ABILENE, Texas – Junior guard Zacc Carter scored a career-high 35 points as McMurry University Men's Basketball held off Belhaven University, 105-100, in double overtime Thursday night in the American Southwest Conference opener for both teams at Kimbrell Arena.
McMurry was up three in both regulation and the first overtime with under a minute to play, but Belhaven hit a three each time to force the extra frames. After playing the same five players for the final eight minutes of regulation and the first overtime, McMurry was rewarded by contributions from its bench in the final period.
Sophomore guard Elijah Johnson came in and hit a floating jumper, before freshman guard Jordan Sherman blocked a shot and junior guard Dedrick Berry Jr. hit a three to put the War Hawks (3-3, 1-0 ASC) up five. Although the Blazers (1-3, 0-1 ASC) would quickly tie it back up, Sherman would make a layup on a goaltend and sophomore guard Colin Taylor hit a driving layup to seal the game.
"I'm tired, and we're tired," Head Coach Zach Pickelman said after the marathon double-overtime victory. "I hope we learned from our mistakes tonight as we did some really questionable things and I hope we improved tonight. But overall, we're 1-0 in conference and it's a win, so we'll take it."
Carter scored 20 of his 35 points in the second half and overtime, knocking down 10 of his 17 shot attempts, including 4-for-8 from beyond the arc. He also connected on 11-of-15 shots from the charity stripe and added six rebounds. The 35 points are the most points by a War Hawk since Connor Robinson's 44 in 2014.
McMurry led by as many as nine early in the first half, but neither team was able to pull away. The War Hawks again briefly led by six at the outset of the second half in a game that was played for the majority within five points and featured 24 lead changes and 20 ties.
Both teams struggled mightily from the line in a foul-filled contest, with the Blazers going just 22-for 35 and the War Hawks 26-for-45. It was a different story from the floor, though, as Belhaven hit 49.3 percent of their shots and McMurry 46.6 percent. McMurry had a slight advantage from distance at 36.7 percent en route to knocking down 11 shots from three.
Junior forward Mike Williams Jr. scored 15 points to go along with seven rebounds before fouling out, and junior guard Trevin Ramirez chipped in with a dozen points and a game-high nine boards. Johnson and sophomore guard Khalil Butler rounded out the double-figure scoring with 10 points apiece.
Butler led the War Hawks with four assists, as McMurry assisted on 20 of their 34 made field goals.
McMurry continues ASC play Saturday at 3:30 p.m. by hosting Louisiana College at Kimbrell Arena following the McM women's game. The Wildcats defeated Hardin-Simmons University 85-80 Thursday night.
