LONGVIEW, Texas – After holding just an eight-point lead at intermission, the LeTourneau University basketball team would utilize a 16-point spark in bench points in the second half to pull away from the University of Texas-Tyler and win by a score of 101-78 inside of Solheim Arena on Saturday, January 27th.
 
The victory moves LETU to 16-3 overall and 10-2 in the American Southwest Conference with the double-digit conference wins marking only the fourth time in school history that the YellowJackets have reached the plateau in the ASC. UTT falls to 13-6 overall and 6-6 in the ASC following their second straight loss.
 
"The way we like to play is at a fast tempo as long as we take smart shots and we knew that defense was going to be big tonight so we put our focus on that" said head coach Dan Miller in a post-game interview with Hayden Henry of the Longview News-Journal. "We had a good stretch in the second half where we kind of separated from them, but basketball is a shot-making game and when you have two good teams sometimes it just comes down to shot-making." "We know Texas-Tyler is a great team, so we will have to be focused when we come back and play them again on Thursday."
 
In a game that was tied for a total of nine seconds on the night, LeTourneau used a commanding 46-28 advantage in points in the paint and 24-15 advantage in bench points to earn the 23-point victory as Texas-Tyler would only score eight points off nine LETU turnovers. The YellowJackets also shot 49.4 percent (38-for-77) from the field and hit 11 triples (11-of-27, 40.7 percent) while also making 14 free throws.  
 
A big day for sophomore Nate West and junior Caleb Loggins carried LeTourneau throughout, with West scoring a game-high 25 points and grabbing 11 rebounds to go along with eight assists. Loggins fared just as well by finishing with 24 points and seven rebounds while defensively getting four steals and one block despite not playing the final 17 minutes of the first half due to foul trouble. UTT had four players in double-figures including Emeka Obukwelu, who scored 12 of his 16 points in the first half.

Five lead changes prior to the first media timeout of the game set the tone early on as the Patriots would rely on their three-point shooting to open up an 11-6 lead before a Loggins fastbreak layup put the score at 11-8 at the 15:21 mark when the media timeout was taken. The UTT lead would be held until a rebound a tip-in by West at the 10:04 mark put LETU back on top by a score of 18-17 before a Justin Moore triple gave the YellowJackets their first two-possession lead of the game. 

The lead would remain in the three-to-four point range for the next few minutes before senior Caylab Herrera would step out and hit a much-needed three for LeTourneau which extended the LETU lead to six at 29-23 before seeing the lead grow to eight at 35-27 with 4:47 remaining in the first half. Each team managed to score 11 of the final 22 points in the period, which kept the LeTourneau lead at eight heading into halftime (46-38). 

Quick fouls by Texas-Tyler and more specifically Obukwelu to start the second half would send the sophomore to the bench which allowed LETU to take advantage and push their lead out to double-digits for the first time all day at 52-42 with 16:31 remaining in the game. Eight of the next 12 points would be scored by Loggins as LeTourneau extended their lead to 59-46 before going up by 20 midway through the second half. 

LETU would keep the pressure on the Patriots as the the early fouls threw the UTT offense out of sync unable to match the high-powered YellowJacket attack. Senior Alec Colhoff would join the mix towards the end of the game, connecting on his fourth three of the game to fall just one triple shy of tying the LeTourneau career three-point record held by Mid Johnson. Juniors C.J. Bird and Chase Orlich would put a cap on things in the final two minutes by each hitting a three with Orlich's triple putting LeTourneau over the century mark for the fifth time this year. 

LeTourneau will look to match or even improve upon their 5-1 mark of the front half of the ASC East Division schedule when they start with their final six-game stretch of the regular season at Texas-Tyler on Thursday, February 1st. The game will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. from the Herrington Patriot Center in Tyler.