LONGVIEW, Texas - All five LeTourneau University men's basketball starters managed to finish the game in double figures as the YellowJackets would earn a 97-86 home win over the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor at Solheim Arena in Longview, Texas on Thursday, November 30th. 

The game, which served as the American Southwest Conference opener for both teams, saw LETU improve to 5-1 overall and 1-0 in the ASC while the Cru dropped their second game of the year to fall to 4-2 overall and 0-1 in ASC play. 

LeTourneau would trail for a total of 2:09 in the game, jumping out to a 7-2 lead on a Caleb Loggins layup before relinquishing the lead to UMHB at the 12:38 mark in the first half. The Cru took their largest lead of the game at 12-9 on a layup with 12:08 remaining in the first half, but would see the YellowJackets tie the game at 14-14 on a Seth Mattson three and again at 16-16 following a Justin Moore layup. Moore's layup ignited a 10-0 LETU run that gave the YellowJackets a 24-16 lead with just over eight minutes remaining in the first half that then became double digits just one minute later on a Nate West trey (29-17).

LeTourneau's first half offensive explosion carried into the final six minutes of the opening period as LETU managed to eclipse the 50-point mark and take a 52-37 lead into the break while hitting five of their 18 first half shots from three-point range.

A stingy UMHB team would show no quit in them as LeTourneau's largest lead of the game of 18 points would quickly be erased to single-digits four minutes into the second half. The YellowJacket lead would hover between eight and 11 points for the better part of the next five minutes of play before a 7-1 run put LETU back up by their halftime margin of 15 at 77-62 with 10:44 remaining.
It would appear as though LeTourneau would get the opportunity put the game away with just over seven minutes remaining following a Loggins jumper to go up 81-64, but the Cru would once again respond by getting the lead back down to 10 with 5:08 left in the game.

LETU's lead would get to as few as seven following a pair of LaKendric Hyson free throws with 1:41 remaining in the game, but free throws down the stretch would seal the victory for the YellowJackets as LeTourneau managed to go 11-14 from the charity stripe in the second half which included a 9-10 mark in the final 1:25 of regulation.

"UMHB is a really good team and I never really felt good knowing we would have the win until the final buzzer sounded" said head coach Dan Miller in a post-game interview. "Our guys battled hard on the boards tonight and I felt that was the difference in the game." "This was a good win for us and I'm really happy for our guys who showed a lot of toughness tonight." "Late in games it's not easy to put teams away, but we did enough with rebounds and free throw shooting." 

Both teams would limit their turnovers tonight as UMHB committed just 11 compared to nine for LeTourneau, but the YellowJackets used a 15-5 advantage in points off turnovers that would prove to be the difference in the game. The rebounding margin would be 51-39 in favor of LETU, who picked up 16 offensive rebounds leading to 16 second chance points and scored 40 of their 97 points in the paint.

A team-high 21 points from Colhoff to go along with five boards let LeTourneau as Moore recorded his second double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. The 19 points marks the first time in his career that the freshman has been held under the 20-point mark while Loggins and West both added 17 points. Caylab Herrera rounded out the five starters in double-figures, scoring 14 points and grabbing four rebounds while adding one assist. UMHB was led by a game-high 24 points from Hyson with 21 of the 24 points coming in the second half.

Saturday will be a key game for the YellowJackets when the Tornadoes of Concordia University Texas comes to town. Preseason favorites to win the ASC West Division, CTX lost an 84-81 road game to East Texas Baptist University on Thursday night.