By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
 
HATTIESBURG – With a nearly completely revamped roster, there are still some growing pains for the William Carey University men's basketball team.
 
The Crusaders sputtered at times on offense, but used a strong defensive effort to pull away from Southeastern Baptist College 76-67 in their 2023-24 home opener Tuesday night at Clinton Gym.
 
Carey heads into its Southern States Athletic Conference opener on Saturday at 3-2 overall; SBC dropped to 0-3.
 
"A lot of it was just being our first home game," said Carey coach Steve Knight. "You've got people in the stands, big-game atmosphere, with a good crowd and the pep band, and I think we were just trying to do a little too much at times."
 
The Crusaders have never lost to Southeastern, but this time the Chargers gave them all they wanted almost from start to finish.
 
The first half was especially tense, as the two teams battled through 10 lead changes and a pair of ties.
 
"This season has been a learning experience," said junior Dylan Brumfield. "We're just trying to get to know each other as a team, because we're all new players. We only have, I think, two returners, so we're still trying to learn how to play with each other."
 
SBC stayed in the game for two main reasons, the Chargers shot lights-out from 3-point range and the Crusaders had a poor night at the foul line.
 
Southeastern made 4 of the first 6 shots it took from beyond the arc, and finished the night converting 11 of 27 from 3-point range.
 
"They were driving and kicking the ball out," said senior guard Earl Smith. "We just helped too much. Like, we'd come over to help in the paint and they were able to get it out to the open man.
 
"They had good shooters, but we just beat ourselves by just hustling too hard."
 
Carey's free throw woes kept the Crusaders from pulling away, especially in the second half. After converting 6 of their first 8 foul shots, the Crusaders were just 3 of 8 the rest of the second half and finished the game 16 of 33 (48.5 percent) from the line.
 
"I really don't know," said Brumfield. "We practice free throws before practice, during practice and after practice. We just weren't focused tonight."
 
At times in the first half, Carey appeared to be ready to take command. WCU built a five-point lead, 21-16, midway through the period on a three-point play by junior Zandon Haralson.
 
But the Chargers nailed a trey to reel Carey back in. Then with 7:36 to play in the half, WCU built a four-point advantage, 26-22, on a free throw from Brumfield.
 
This time, the Chargers roared back with a 3-pointer and a putback of 3-point miss after getting the ball back on a foul by Carey. The put SBC up 27-26, and the Chargers would lead on two other occasions in the first half.
 
But senior Kolby Moore swished a 3-point shot from the right side for Carey – the Crusaders first made 3-ball after eight straight misses – to go ahead 34-32 with 2:51 to play.
 
That's how the half ended, as both teams missed scoring chances in the final minutes of the half.
 
Carey came out with heightened intensity after halftime, and quickly rattled off a 6-0 run to take an eight-point lead, 40-32, as the Crusaders were successful in getting in the paint for easy baskets.
 
Brumfield slammed the opening possession of the second half on an alley-oop from junior Ankerion Gross, then got a steal and breakaway dunk. Another turnover got junior Kaedon Laws for another fast-break layup.
 
In all, WCU forced 28 turnovers, and held the Chargers to just four offensive rebounds, while taking down 27 on the defensive glass.
 
"We did a good job there, but the problem was we didn't convert," Knight said. "Sometimes we got a little ahead of ourselves and turned the ball over in transition, and other times we just weren't organized.
 
"Any time you can keep them off the offensive glass, that's another potential shot you take away from them."
 
But Charger guard Reginal Jones turned a turnover into yet another 3-pointer, as SBC refused to go away. Jones had 21 points to lead Southeastern.
 
Carey reeled off a 9-2 run midway through the second half, capped by a steal and a layup from Brumfield to take a 61-51 lead with 6:10 to play.
 
As they did on previous occasions, however, SBC came back on the strength of the 3-pointer. An 8-0 run closed the margin 61-59.
 
That's when Smith stepped up for Carey. Smith attacked the basket, getting layups and free throw opportunities, and unlike the rest of the Crusaders, Smith was good from the line, converting 8-9 foul shots.
 
"We try to push it as much as we can, but a lot of times, we didn't get what we wanted," said Smith. "We've got some good bigs so we were able to feed them down low and let them get going."
 
Smith finished with a game-high 24 points, 17 in the second half. Brumfield added 13 points and Moore had 10 points, along with 9 rebounds.
 
"That's us; we're a defensive team," said Brumfield. "We come out to try and force turnover to get easy buckets at the other end."
 
Finally, in the last two minutes of the game, Carey ran its offense the way Knight wanted it.
 
"We did a real good job the last four and a half minutes executing and getting the kind of shots we wanted," said Knight. "Everything else we were doing, we were a little hesitant and we started second-guessing what we were doing.
 
"But those last few possessions, with Zandon and Kaeden on the floor together, and Earl at the top, we executed very, very well. That's what we work on."
 
Brumfield got a putback after Laws got to the rim, then Smith drove to the basket for a layup, drew a foul and converted the and-one to put the Crusaders up 71-65 and that was enough o put the Chargers away in the end.
 
"We know a couple of the guys that are going to be our big contributors," Knight said. "But we're still searching for the right combination. Should we play small; should we play the bigger guys.
 
WCU will be back at home on Saturday in its conference opener against Thomas (Ga.). The undefeated Carey women tip off at 2 p.m., with the men scheduled for a 4 p.m. start.
 
"I think we've got to get a whole lot better," said Knight. "But I want to chalk this one up to maybe just trying to do too much."