POSTGAME INTERVIEW WITH DEITRICH WILLIAMS AND BOB DAVIS

LONGVIEW - Senior Deitrich Williams only had one points in the entire game Thursday night against Texas-Dallas, but it proved to be the biggest point of the game. D. Williams hit a game winning free throw with the clock expired to defeat the Texas-Dallas Comets 45-44 at Solheim Arena.

The win elevates the Jackets to 0.5 game behind the Comets, who fell to second place after the loss. If LeTourneau defeats Ozarks on Saturday, they will pass Texas-Dallas and claim second place.

Texas-Dallas (13-6, 8-5 ASC) got the opening point of the half off a steal to take a 2-0 lead. Junior Chad Williams responded with two free throws to tie it up. After a three-pointer from the Comets, sophomore Josh Thornton made two straight jumpers to give the Jackets a 6-5 lead.

The Comets went on a 7-0 run as they got great looks and went on top 13-6 with 11:41 to go in the first half. LeTourneau (8-10, 7-5 ASC) responded with an 8-0 run thanks to a couple of jumpers from junior Justin Jones and a three from freshman Ladaria Brown to take a 14-13 lead at the 8:28 mark.

Texas-Dallas seemed to take control as they regained the lead and pushed it out to eight points. The Jackets responded and got the game back down to four with 2:46 to go, but the Comets closed the half on a 6-0 run and took a 30-20 lead at the break.

Both teams came out cold in the second half as neither could buy a bucket. Brown finally got LeTourneau on the board with a free throw at the 17:25 mark. Brown then got a steal and layup and after a free throw from the Comets, the Jackets got a layup from Jones and a free throw from senior Cristian Driver to cut the game to five.

After two straight layups from UT-Dallas, LeTourneau went on a 9-0 run beginning with free throws from Brown. After a steal by Brown, Thornton got an easy layup followed by another layup from Jones. Jones then came away with a steal and drew a foul along with the basket and made the free throw to tie things up at 35. 

After a free throw from the Comets, the Jackets got another layup plus the foul, this time from C. Williams to go up 38-36. After a pair of free throws by Driver extended the lead to four, Texas-Dallas responded with four straight point to tie the game with 6:18 remaining in the game.

Jones gave the lead back to LeTourneau, but the Comets got to the free throw line to tie it back up. Senior Kendrae Carter then stepped up and made a layup with 2:26 to go in the game, but Kyle Schliegh responded with a beautiful jumper to tie the game up.

After key stops on both ends, the Jackets got the ball in the final 25 seconds with a chance to win. After running the clock down, D. Williams took a three for the win and was bumped by a Comet defender as time expired to send him to the free throw line with a chance to win it.

D. Williams, with ice in his veins, made the first free throw and the game was over as LeTourneau picked up a huge win.

Jones led the with with 17 points to go with six rebounds while Brown added nine points and three steals. C. Williams led all rebounders with eight boards to go with seven points while D. Williams had one big point to go with seven boards and four steals.

The Jackets struggled from the field, shooting only 34%, but held one of the top offense to only 36% shooting and forced them into 19 turnovers. The Comets scored 30 points and made five threes in the first half. However, the LeTourneau defense held them to 14 points, only eight coming from the field, 13 turnovers, and no threes in the second half. 

The Jackets face the Ozarks on Saturday, with a chance to move into second and possibly be tied for first depending on how the day unfolds. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. (or 20 minutes following the girls game) and can be seen live on Pack Network.