INCARNATE WORD 82, HARDING 71
The winning string is now three straight for Incarnate Word and two factors are at play as the Cardinals Friday night defeated Harding 82-17 at the McDermott Center on the UIW campus.
With the win the Cardinals advance to 5-2 on the year while the Bisons drop to 4-2.
The one consistent in the three straight wins is the fact that Incarnate Word wins the second half. Against Harding UIW held a narrow 34-33 lead at the half. At the 11:43 mark of the second period junior guard Eric Stewart made a layup and Incarnate Word had its first double-digit lead at 50-39. That was 16-5 over that eight-plus minute period.
From that time forward the lead would remain above 10, even expanding to as much as 18 when senior guard Pierce Caldwell made a jumper with 6:45 remaining. More on Caldwell later, as he is the second factor in the Cardinals current winning string.
The Bisons hung around, making some three-pointers, and eventually cut the UIW lead to just five at the 1:32 mark on the scoreboard clock. By this time it had become a parade to the free throw line for Incarnate Word. In the final four minutes, Caldwell, as part of his story, made four straight at the line after a foul and a technical foul on the Bisons. Then UIW missed five of its next six at the stripe as the Bisons were cutting into the lead. In the final minute and 43 seconds however Incarnate Word reversed that trend with seven of eight made to hold onto the lead and ultimately the game.
Now, about Caldwell. In the three wins he has been the leading scorer for the Cardinals averaging 26.7 points, scoring 20 or more in each contest. He is 14-24 from beyond the home run line in the three games for a percentage of .583. His four three's against Harding give him 285 in his career as he continues to stretch his own UIW record.
His name is in the Incarnate Word record book in another scoring column, free throws. Dating back to the semi-final game of last spring's Heartland Conference championship tournament, he has made 52 consecutive free throws and that is a UIW mark. The old mark was 32.
Back to the Harding game, Caldwell had plenty of help from his teammates as four others were in double points—junior forward Tracy Robinson (18), sophomore guard Shaun Umeh (12), Stewart (11), and freshman guard Kelcey Solomon (10).
Robinson had his third double-double of the year as he collected 11 rebounds to go with his 18 points. Senior center Tamas Cseh had 10 rebounds as the Cardinals won the boards by 41-34. UIW blocked nine shots including Cseh's four.
Next up for the Cardinals is a week of no games as they go through fall semester final examinations. They will be back in action on December 13 with a game at Texas A&M / Kingsville.
