A tightly contested game that saw the score tied 16 times and 8 lead changes was the stage for a back-and-forth battle between the LeTourneau University men's basketball team and Concordia on Thursday night in Longview. Josh Sanchez of the Tornoados hit a 3 pointer with 6:08 to play that put the visitors ahead 64-62 and for the rest of the contest en route to an 80-76 win over the host YellowJackets. Sanchez scored eight of the final 16 for Concordia, who sealed the win with a 12-for-12 effort from the free-throw line.

LeTourneau (5-15, 3-12 ASC) shuffled its starting lineup and it paid immediate dividends for a 10-point lead early in the contest. Josh Thornton, who was making his second start of the season, scored 14 points and had a season-best nine rebounds. Kelby Schimming had his second double double of the season with a team-high 17 points and 11 rebounds. C.J. Edwards and Aaron Frizell were each in double digits for the third time on the season with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Sam Talbert broke into double digits for the 10^th time on the season with 10 points.
 
Concordia (13-7, 9-6 ASC) landed three players in double digits including Sanchez, who shared in game-high honors with 17 points. He was joined by Andre Potts and Terry Corprew, who scored 14 and 12 points, respectively. An aggressive LETU defense held Concordia to 33.3% shooting from the field, who was shooting 44.6% from the field coming into the contest.
 
Twice, LeTourneau led by 10 in the opening half before a 13-3 spurt by the visitors tied the game at 26 with 1:58 to play in the opening half. The game was tied on two more occasions in the first 20 minutes until Edwards escaped the halftime buzzer with a jumper for a 32-30 lead in favor of the host YellowJackets. Neither team would be able to sustain a lead in the opening minutes of the second half with each team that saw the contest tied on 10 occasions.
 
After Sanchez had put CTX ahead 64-62, later in the half, the YellowJackets rallied to cut the deficit to one, 65-54 on a lay-up by Thornton with 5:31 to play. Again, Sanchez ended the threat with his second 3 pointer of the game and LeTourneau managed to get as close as two on five occasions in the last five minutes of the game.
 
The YellowJackets will next face Mary Hardin-Baylor on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Solheim Arena for BLUE OUT.