MBB edged by Millsaps in NCAA Tournament

03/08/08

Jackson, MS- The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team only trailed once, but it was when it mattered most as the Cru fell to Millsaps College 57-56 in an NCAA Division III National Championships Second Round game Saturday night in Jackson, Mississippi. The loss ends UMHB's season at 26-4, as the Cru set a new school single-season record for victories. Millsaps improves to 27-3 and advances to the Sweet 16 next weekend.

UMHB built an 11-point second half lead at 39-28 with 15:09 remaining, but the Majors chipped away and cut it to 53-52 on Lorenzo Bailey's three-pointer with 3:19 remaining. Matt Caskey hit a free-throw to put the Cru up 54-52 with 58 seconds to go, but Bailey hit a jumper to tie it at 54 with 47 seconds remaining. Neiman Ford buried a 15-foot jumper with 14.6 seconds left to play, but after almost fumbling the ball out of bounds, Chad Songy nailed a three-pointer with 2.3 seconds on the clock to give Millsaps its first lead of the night. UMHB turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds play, but sent Chris Sanders to the free-throw line with 1.7 seconds left. He missed the front end of a one-and-one and UMHB got the ball back, but Tilmon Gaddy could not get a last-second three off.

"You've got to give Songy credit because he made a play when he had to," Cru head coach Ken DeWeese said. "It's was probably the shot we wanted him to take and he knocked it down."

UMHB would lead by as many as 11 points in the first half after holding the Majors to just 21 per cent shooting from the field. The Cru would lead 33-26 at halftime.

The Cru defense held the Majors to just 28 per cent shooting from the field and 29 per cent from three-point range. UMHB shot 51 per cent from the field and out rebounded the Majors 42-31 in the game. The Cru turned the ball over 23 times and went just 16-28 from the free-throw line.

Neiman Ford led UMHB with 13 points and David Ray added 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Lorenzo Bailey led Millsaps with 21 points and Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year Edrick Montgomery added 15 points and eight rebounds, but he went just 4-17 from the field.

"We felt like he was the key to their team and we did a good job on him," DeWeese said. "But they obviously had a couple of other keys that we didn't see on the ring."

The loss also closed out the careers of three UMHB seniors. Ryan Burgart, Matt Dickey and Neiman Ford all played their final games as member of the Cru.