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Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men’s basketball team could not find an answer for Wheaton College’s hot three-point shooting and smothering defense and the Cru fell to the Thunder 73-58 in an NCAA Division III National Championship First Round game Thursday night in Belton. The loss ends UMHB’s season at 22-7. Wheaton improves to 19-8 overall and advances to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament.
The game was back-and-forth early in the first half before the Thunder defense turned it up a notch midway through the half. Wheaton went on a 7-0 run to open the lead to 17-9. The Cru would go 10 minutes without a field goal as the Thunder pushed the lead to 26-10 with 6:31 left in the first half. UMHB closed the half with a 15-7 run of its own to close the gap to 33-25 at the half. The Thunder answered the Cru run by hitting four three-pointers on the first five possessions of the second half and the lead grew to 17 points 2:40 into the half. UMHB would fight back to cut the lead to 51-39 with 10:35 remaining in the game, but Wheaton opened it up once again and pushed the lead to as many as 18 points to slowly put the Cru away.
Dean Pele finished with a team-high 15 points to lead UMHB. Theo Ard added 13 points, nine rebounds and eight blocked shots for the cru and Sterling Phillips also reached double figures with 10 points. Andrew Jahns led Wheaton with 25 points and he hit 5-8 from three-point range. Josten’s Trophy Finalist and Austin native Ben Panner sparkled in his return to his home state, scoring 21 points and adding five assists. Tim McCrary posted a double-double for the Thunder, scoring 17 points and grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds.
UMHB shot 40 per cent from the field and hit just 3-16 from three-point range in the game. Wheaton hit 10-20 from beyond the arc and shot 43 per cent overall from the field. The Thunder also out rebounded the Cru 41-29 and went 15-16 from the free-throw line. The Cru hit just 7-14 from the charity stripe in the loss.
The loss ends the careers of four UMHB seniors. Rich Moore, Zane Johnston, Reshaud Jackson and Ervin Johnson all played the final games of their Cru careers. Wheaton moves on to face U.T.-Dallas in a 7:00 PM Second Round game Saturday night in Richardson.