The Cru trailed 44-40 at halftime after a first-half that featured four ties and five lead changes. UMHB took its first lead of the second half on Ryan Burgart’s dunk and free-throw with 14:20 remaining. UMHB would push the lead to 10 points and 73-63 with 7:23 left to play, but Concordia battled back and cut the lead to one at 77-76 with 3:23 to go. Kevin Guyden, Neiman Ford and Matt Dickey then all hit lay-ups and Burgart added another free-throw to give the Cru an 84-78 edge and the Tornados would not get closer then five points the rest of the way.
Ryan Burgart led UMHB with 19 points and he also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. Neiman Ford added 18 points on 6-6 shooting from the field for the Cru. Guyden finished with 15 points, all of them in the second half and Tim Lytle came off the bench to score 10 big first-half points for the UMHB men. Brad Walker and Joel McDonald scored 24 points apiece to lead the Tornados. Michael Moore added 10 for Concordia-Austin. UMHB shot 57 per cent from the field and held the Tornados to 42 per cent from the field and 28 per cent from three-point range in the game.
The victory gives UMHB head coach Ken DeWeese 138 wins in his career at UMHB and he moves into a tie with Richard Herbst for most coaching victories in the history of the Cru men’s basketball program. Herbst won his 138 games from 1990-1998. DeWeese’s winning percentage of .616 is also the highest in the history of the UMHB men’s basketball program.
The Cru will now return home to host Texas Lutheran University for a 7:30 PM tip-off on Thursday night at the Mayborn Campus Center. The UMHB men will then hit the road again for a 3:00 PM start against Schreiner University in Kerrville on Saturday.