Neither team led by more than five in a very tightly contested American Southwest Conference game on Monday night in Solheim Arena. Freshman
Nate West dropped a career-high 23 points, 21 of which came in the second half to lead LeTourneau.
The YellowJackets (4-4, 1-3 ASC) scored 17 points off turnovers and won the battle on the boards as they outrebounded the Cowboys 35-31, tying a season-high with 16 offensive rebounds.
"Both teams played excellent defense and unfortunately we came up on the short end of a close game," said head coach
Dan Miller. "The difference was at the free throw line where they 20-of-24 to our 5-of-9."
Caleb Loggins scored nine points to go along with six rebounds.
Caylab Herrera and
Alec Colhoff each finished with seven points. Colhoff would also add eight boards to lead the YellowJackets.
LeTourneau was cold from beyond-the-arc in the first half as they shot just 1-of-12 from three-point range. The percentage would improve in the second half with 38.89 on 7-of-18 shooting. LETU also struggled with foul trouble as four YellowJackets ended with four personal fouls and 20 as a team.
Nate West tipped-in a shot at the first half buzzer to secure a one-point lead at the break for the YellowJackets. LETU would come out to take their largest lead of the game on a
Caylab Herrera three-point field goal at the 17:52 mark.
West caught fire and hit two of his five long-range field goals and scored eight straight points to give the YellowJackets a 65-64 lead with 1:38 remaining. LETU wouldn't score again and the Cowboys knocked down free throws down the stretch to take the 65-69 victory.
"We had some good looks to tie in the closing seconds and I have confidence in the guys to hit them the next time we are in that situation," said Miller.
LeTourneau will be back in action on Saturday afternoon as they host Austin College in a non-conference showdown. The YellowJackets defeated the Roos 92-78 in their season-opener on November 15
th in Sherman. Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m. from Solheim Arena on Saturday.
