POSTGAME INTERVIEW WITH CRISTIAN DRIVER

MARSHALL - At this very moment, there may not be one team in the American Southwest that wants to see the LeTourneau YellowJackets men's basketball team. After a historic win over with Mississippi College last Saturday, the Jackets responded by going into a tough environment and beating their rivals, the Tigers of East Texas Baptist, 64-58 to pick up their third straight win and move into a tie for second place in the ASC East.

The win sets up a showdown with the UT-Tyler Patriots on Saturday for a chance to take over second place in the East and will only be 0.5 game back of UT-Dalles.

LeTourneau (7-9, 6-4 ASC) took a 2-0 lead early on after senior Cristian Driver hit two free throws. After a bucket from the Tigers, LETU went on a 10-0 run as junior Chad Williams got six points in the paint and senior Deitrich Williams drained a three. 

The Tigers (7-10, 3-8 ASC) got a couple buckets to fall before Driver swished his first three of the game. ETBU roared back and got withing two but a layup from freshman Ladaria Brown and junior Justin Jones, a pair of three pointers from Williams, and free throws from D. Williams gave the Jackets a 14 point lead.

The Tigers fought back within six towards the end of the half, but another three from Driver followed by a three from D. Williams pushed the lead back to 12 and LeTourneau took a 33-23 lead into the break.

East Texas Baptist were not going to go down quietly on their floor as they scored five straight points to start the half. After the two teams exchanged baskets, Driver struck again from long range, this time being fouled and hitting a free throw for the four point play.

The Tigers kept chipping away thanks to great defense on their part and eventually took over the lead at the 9:35 mark after a jumper from Kerry McClahan. Shortly after, C. Williams missed a layup and as the Tigers looked to run, freshman Chris Hynes stepped in front of a fastbreak passed and handed it off to Driver who finished it off with a monster dunk to tie the game back at 49 and swing the momentum. 

East Texas Baptist did get their lead out to found, but big shot Brown responded with a beautiful floater on the baseline and then gave the Jackets the lead for good with a three pointer at the wing to give LeTourneau a 54-53 lead with 5:31 to go.

From there, the Jackets got key stops and hit key shots including a daggering three pointer with 3:27 remaining from sophomore Josh Thornton to give the Jackets a four point lead.

LeTourneau iced the game and picked up the win with great toughness.

The Jackets shot 38% from the field on this night, but 43% from the three point line. One of the key stats was from the free throw line where LeTourneau was fantastic, shooting 87% while only missing two free throws all night.

Driver led the way with 20 points to go with five rebounds and three assists while D. Williams added 13 points, five assists, and four rebounds. Brown had 12 points, five rebounds, and two steals and Jones added eight points and nine boards.

This sets up the showdown in Tyler on Saturday as the Jackets square off with their other rival in the ASC. The winner will take control of second place in the ASC East and will have a chance to move into first by night's end. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. and Live Audio will be provided by the LeTourneau Sports Information Department through Stretch Internet.