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| No amount of pointing out where Hudson Johnson was enabled Redlands to defend him effectively. Photo by Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com |
LAS VEGAS -- Mary Hardin-Baylor rallied past No. 11 Redlands and set the tournament scoring record in a thriller on the final day of the D3hoops.com Classic, while Central won big to go home 2-0. In Tuesday's women's action, Salve Regina edged Occidental in a nailbiter while Redlands and Whittier returned to California with a pair of wins.
Hudson Johnson had one of the most epic performances in the 15 years of the D3hoops.com Classic, as he went 8-for-13 from three-point range on the way to 32 points, seven assists and seven rebounds to help lead Mary Hardin-Baylor past 11th-ranked Redlands 104-97.
Mary Hardin-Baylor went on a 19-6 run in the second half, a stretch that included eight points from Johnson, to turn a 69-62 deficit into an 81-75 lead. The Bulldogs (8-2) never got any closer than four points the rest of the way, and a Johnson three-pointer less than three minutes later made it 92-82 and put the game out of reach.
"Our first two games of the year we went up, and then we ended up losing the game in the last two minutes of the game," Johnson said after the game, on the D3hoops.com Classic official broadcast. "We've taken that personally, really, so we've just had this emphasis on finishing games all year, whether it's situations in practice, or conditioning, we're just trying to get it done."
Johnson, who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2025 D3hoops.com Classic, led all scorers with his 32, while Elijah Lawrence added 15 points and Josiah Wray 12 for the Cru, who improved to 9-4 on the season.
Less than 24 hours after beating Occidental, Central scored early and often, and the Dutch drilled Bridgewater State, 100-68.
The Dutch shot 57 percent from the field and drained 10 three-pointers in a 58-point first half Braylon Thomsen came off the bench and hit three 3-pointers quickly, and Carson Jones closed the half with a three that sent the Dutch to the locker room with a 28-point lead.
The Dutch starters saw limited minutes in the second half, but Central (7-5) still had five players score in double figures led by Thomsen (16 points) and Kyle Cason (15 points).
Occidental came away with a split of the two-game event, as Nasir Luna scored 25 points and Nicky Clotfelter added 23 to lead the Tigers to an 80-78 win vs. MSOE. The Tigers (7-1) took the lead for the final time when Clotfelter found Luna for a three-pointer to put Oxy up 74-71. Clotfelter followed with a turnaround jumper in the lane to give his team some breating room.
In a game with 16 ties and 30 lead changes, the last one favored the Salve Regina women's basketball team, as the Seahawks edged Occidental 78-77 on Sofia Neary’s floater with six seconds remaining in overtime.
The teams battled back and forth, with Salve holding a 65-63 lead in the closing seconds of regulation until Paige Yasukochi drained a game-tying mid-range jumper at the horn. The teams continued to trade leads in the extra period with Neary briefly putting the Seahawks ahead 76-75 with a jumper, and then Ainsley Shelsta answered with a layup, giving the Tigers a 77-76 advantage with seven seconds left.
Salve called time out and got the ball to Neary who drove into the paint and pulled up for the go-ahead basket. Out of timeouts, Occidental managed one more shot that was off the mark.
Neary finished with 35 points and 19 rebounds in 37 minutes for Salve Regina (5-6) while Yasukochi tallied 30 points and Dominique Cabading had 12 assists, which is a new Classic record, for Occidental (4-4).
Redlands built a big lead, absorbed Bridgewater State’s comeback, and defeated the Bears, 71-65, to complete its second straight 2-0 Classic showing.
The Bulldogs raced to a 24-11 advantage at the end of the first quarter and maintained that double-digit lead into the fourth. Bridgitt O’Sullivan-Van Etten got Bridgewater State back into the game with a 7-0 run, and then back-to-back baskets by Mairead Gallagher and Haley Burchhardt pulled the Bears within three at 68-65 in the final minute. Redlands nudged the lead to five with two Leila Hosn free throws, and the Bears were unable to get closer.
Colbi Zorich and AJ Wick combined for 28 points and 16 rebounds for Redlands (8-1), and Emilie von der Linden finished one point shy of a double-double (nine points, 14 rebounds) for Bridgewater State (1-8).
Whittier also heads back to California with two wins after cruising past Wesleyan, 71-43. The Poets held the Cardinals to 27 percent shooting, as Wesleyan went 3-for-25 from three. Xochitl Hood posted 16 points and nine rebounds, and Kennedy Perkins scored 20 more for Whittier (5-4), which had a 42-16 scoring advantage in the paint.