BROWNWOOD, Texas - Sophomore guard Nate West recorded just the second triple-double in school history and the 12th in American Southwest Conference history to lead the LeTourneau University men's basketball team to a 98-63 road win at Howard Payne University at the Brownwood Coliseum in Brownwood, Texas on Monday, December 11th. 

LETU concludes their ASC weekend road trip with a 1-1 record to improve to 7-2 overall and 3-1 in the ASC while the host YellowJackets fell to 2-5 overall and 0-2 in conference play. 

Looking to rebound from Saturday's road loss at Sul Ross State, LeTourneau would come out of the gates firing and jumping out to a quick lead by scoring nine of the first 10 points in the opening four minutes of action. Howard Payne would cut a once eight-point lead down to five on a De'Marcus Hurd triple, but five straight points by West would give LETU their first double-digit lead of the game. 

An 8-0 run over a span of 1:37 would push the LeTourneau lead out to 19 points with 12 minutes remaining in the first half as HPU would have no answer for a potent YellowJacket offensive attack that would appear to be making up for missed opportunities on Saturday. Howard Payne would manage to get the LeTourneau lead back down to single digits at 24-15 with 8:42 remaining in the first half, but it would be short-lived as Christian Seidl would hit a three to cap off a 14-5 run to put LeTourneau up by a score of 38-20. A total of 15 points would be scored in the final 3:10 as Howard Payne would manage to get back within 15 to make the score 44-29 at the half. 

LeTourneau would appear to be out to make a statement to start the second half as the 15 point lead would quickly grow to 19 following a West layup with 17:58 remaining in the game before both offenses would finally slow down. Despite a total of just seven points being scored over the next 5:18 of game action, LETU would take their first 20-point lead of the game at 59-39 on a Caylab Herrera layup with 12:40 remaining in the game and then extend their lead to a 30-point drubbing heading into the back end of the second half. 

It would seem as though LeTourneau would score at will down the stretch, as LETU would lead by as many as 38 in the game and put six players in double-figures while falling just two points short of the century mark. 

After connecting on 50 percent (16-32) of their shots in the first half, LETU would manage to finish the game shooting 55.2 percent (37-67) from the floor while also hitting 11 three's (11-24, 45.8 percent). Howard Payne would out rebound LeTourneau 47-40, but could not overcome 50 points in the paint for LETU who also scored 17 points off turnovers. 

Nate officially recorded his triple-double by finishing with a game-high 23 points to go along with 11 rebounds and 11 assists. The sophomore was one of four starters in double-figure points as Alec Colhoff (18 points), Caleb Loggins (12 points), and Herrera (11 points) were joined by Seth Mattson (12 points) and Javaughn Dantzler (10 points) off the bench. All 15 players who suited up for LeTourneau on the night managed to get on the floor with a total of 10 players scoring for the YellowJackets. 

Non-conference action will conclude for LeTourneau the weekend after Christmas when LETU heads to Kerrville, Texas to take part in the ASC/SCAC Challenge. The YellowJackets will play Texas Lutheran University at 12 p.m. on Friday, December 29th before taking on Schreiner University at 4 p.m. on Saturday, December 30th. 

Triple-Double: With the triple-double, West joins an elite group of players that now stands at 10 that have played in the ASC and been able to complete the rare feat. LeTourneau now has the two most recent American Southwest Conference triple-doubles as then sophomore Caleb Loggins was able to record a 20 point, 11 rebound, 11 assist triple double on February 18th against the University of Ozarks last year. Only Cedric Isom of East Texas Baptist University has been able to record more than one triple-double, recording a total of three in his career. As a school, LeTourneau now has the second most-individuals to record a triple-double in ASC history with only Hardin Simmons (three players) having more individuals to have completed the feat.