A wire-to-wire win closed out American Southwest Conference inter-divisional play for the LeTourneau University men's basketball team with an 87-59 road win at Hardin-Simmons University at the Mabee Complex in Abilene, Texas on Saturday, January 6th.
 
Winners of five-straight, the YellowJackets are now a conference-best 11-2 overall and 5-1 in the ASC while last year's ASC Tournament Champion Cowboys are 4-10 overall and 2-4 in the ASC.
 
"Our guys were focused on the road again today" said head coach Dan Miller in a post-game interview. "We knew we had an advantage inside and our post players produced by finishing at a high percentage." "We may be 11-2 overall, but the exciting thing is I know we still have a lot to improve on and our guys are focused on getting better each and every day while sticking together as a team."
 
LETU would utilize a 36-65 (55.4 percent) performance from the floor to come away with the big victory over HSU, assisting on a season-high 26 of their 36 made shots while also going eight for 18 from beyond the arc (44.4 percent). Hardin-Simmons could not overcome a poor 23-74 (31.1 percent) shooting night while also being outdone on the final rebounding margin by a 51-37 mark. Defense also shined for the YellowJackets throughout, with a total of eight blocks setting a team-high for the season.
 
Junior Caleb Loggins led all players in the game by going a perfect 10-10 from the field to finish with 21 points in the game while senior Caylab Herrera added 20 points and seven rebounds. Justin Moore and Christian Seidl led the YellowJackets with eight rebounds each as 50 of LETU's 87 points were scored in the paint.
 
LeTourneau would waste no time jumping out to the early lead, scoring eight of the first 10 points before taking a double-digit lead at 15-5 following a Moore triple with 14:17 left in the first half. The YellowJacket lead would grow throughout the first half with Loggins throwing down a statement dunk midway through the half as LETU managed to lead by as many as 19 while taking a 43-27 lead into the locker room. The lead allowed for LeTourneau to play 10 players in the first half, with seven players getting into the scoring column in the opening 20 minutes of play.
 
The second half continued to be more of the same for the YellowJackets, using a 9-0 run to open up the half and take a commanding 52-27 lead just 90 seconds into the period. With the game in full control, LETU would not allow for the lead to dip below 20 at any point in the final 18 minutes of play while leading by as many as 31 points following a Seidl layup in the paint with 5:09 left in the game. An 18-30 shooting performance in the half (60.0 percent) ended up surpassing LeTourneau's best-shooting half of the year to this point while also focusing on taking care of the basketball by only turning the ball over six times in the second half.
 
LETU will have a week to prepare for their first home game since December 2nd when they take on the University of Texas-Dallas on Saturday, January 13th at 4 p.m. The Comets had an off weekend this past weekend and will take an 8-4 overall record and 4-1 ASC tally into a Thursday night contest at East Texas Baptist before visiting Solheim Arena.