LONGVIEW, Texas - The hype would be all that was expected and more as the LeTourneau University men's basketball team saw a game-tying three hit the front iron as time expired to drop their first home game of the year to East Texas Baptist University by a final score of 96-93 at Solheim Arena in Longview, Texas on Monday, January 15th. 

Seeing their six-game win streak snapped, LETU is now 12-3 overall and 6-2 in the ASC East standings while the Tigers improved to an identical 12-3 overall and 6-2 in the ASC East. Following tonight's game, both LeTourneau and East Texas Baptist remain tied atop the ASC East standing with Texas-Dallas, with all three teams going 1-1 against each other this past week. 

"Credit to ETBU tonight as they played great for 40 minutes and had some kids step up and hit shots tonight" said head coach Dan Miller in a post-game interview. "We left a lot of points at the free throw line tonight and missed some easy layups while making some defensive breakdowns that allowed them to get good looks." "The student section was awesome tonight and they have been all year and we hope that support continues for the rest of our home games."

Rebounding and three-point shooting would be the story of the night for ETBU as the YellowJackets found themselves on the wrong end of a 51-35 rebounding margin while also seeing the Tigers go an astounding 15-of-27 (55.6 percent) from beyond the arc. LETU gave themselves a chance by turning the ball over just three times in the game, but left eight points at the charity stripe (21-29, 72.4 percent) while scoring eight points in transition on the fast break. 

Five of LeTourneau's seven players who played in the game would manage to score in double-figures, with freshman Justin Moore tying his career-high with 24 points which included a perfect 7-for-7 performance at the free throw line. Alec Colhoff also went perfect at the charity stripe (5-5) as part of a 18-point performance while reigning ASC East Co-Player of the Week Nate West scored 16 points and had five assists. Caleb Loggins had an all-around performance, scoring 16 points while grabbing six rebounds and recording four assists, three blocks and two steals in 32 minutes of action. 12 of LETU's 15 bench points came from junior Christian Seidl, who went 5-for-6 from the field and hauled in three defensive rebounds. ETBU was led by a game-high 31 points from Darrice Whitley who hit seven threes. 

Three point shooting was a key component for the Tigers from the start, hitting four treys in the opening seven minutes of action to open up a 20-9 lead and stun the home crowd while forcing an LETU timeout with 13:24 remaining in the first half. A gutty performance by the YellowJackets over the next 4:46 would see LeTourneau manage to pull back within a single point at 24-23 following a Colhoff fast break jumper before knotting the game at 25-25 on a Moore drive to the bucket to beat his defender. 

ETBU reclaimed their lead moments later, which they would hold on to for the rest of the first half, pushing their lead back out to as many as six with 1:47 remaining before halftime and taking a 45-40 lead at the break. 

Another quick start by the Tigers saw East Texas Baptist push their lead back out to double-digits to start the second period with Landin Brown hitting a triple on the opening possession of the half. Despite multiple efforts by the YellowJackets, the deficit would stay double-digits at the first media timeout with ETBU leading 66-53 and LeTourneau unable to find an answer for the three-point barrage. 

Looking to cut into the Tiger lead, LETU would go on an 11-0 run over a span of three minutes to get the ETBU lead down to four at 74-70, with the deficit never getting larger than 10 in the final 10 minutes of action. Heading into the final 5:12 of the game, the YellowJackets found themselves facing an 86-76 hole when a layup and free throw by West would spark an 8-2 run capped off by a three coming from West to pull LETU within four at 88-84. 

East Texas Baptist had the answer however, hitting a three to push the lead back to seven before getting a defensive stop and layup to go back up nine at 93-84 with 2:20 remaining in the game with the YellowJackets all but looking for a late push. Moore would be fouled on a three point attempt and hit all three free throws before Robby Dooley would go 1-for-2 at the line for ETBU to put the lead at seven as the game would become a free throw shooting contest from that point forward. 

After getting to within six and a creating a turnover with 30 seconds left, LETU turned to Seidl who hit an open three to cut the lead in half as the YellowJackets would trail 96-93 with 22 seconds remaining. A missed free throw on the front end of a one-and-one gave LeTourneau a chance to draw up a play to tie the game, but would not have the comeback completed while seeing the Tigers win for the first time in three meetings. 

ASC East Division play continues Thursday for LETU, with a trip to Jackson, Mississippi to take on Belhaven University starting at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 18th. In four all-time meetings as ASC members, LeTourneau is a perfect 4-0 against the Blazers.