MARSHALL, Texas – Connecting on just six of 26 three-point shot attempts in the game, the LeTourneau University men's basketball team would take a one-point lead with 10 seconds remaining before seeing Texas Lutheran come away with an 80-79 win on a shot with one second remaining at the American Southwest Conference/Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Crossover Tournament in Marshall, Texas on Saturday, November 17th.
 
Through four games this season, LETU is now 2-2 overall ahead of Tuesday night's home opener while the Bulldogs picked up their first win of the year to improve to 1-2 overall.
 
"I give credit to Texas Lutheran who shot the ball great today and hit a big shot at the buzzer" said head coach Dan Miller in a post-game interview. "At the end of the day basketball comes down to shot making and you can't win a lot of games shooting 6-for-26 from beyond the three-point line." "Like I tell our guys, we can accept it or do something about it so we need to get back in the gym to shoot better next time out."
 
How It Happened:

• Playing in their second game in as many days, the YellowJackets would see TLU score four points in the opening minute of the game before storming back with a 7-0 run to go up 7-4 at the 17:58 mark in the first half.
• Trying to keep the momentum, LETU would see Texas Lutheran match their offensive efforts shot-for-shot as the lead would not get above four points in the opening five minutes of the game.
•  Using a Seth Mattson and-one situation along with a Nate West triple, LETU would push their lead to eight at 23-15 with 13:32 left before halftime but see the Bulldogs come back to tie the game at 23-23 just four minutes later.
• It would take until the 6:51 mark left in the first half for Texas Lutheran to reclaim the lead following a Harris Jowell layup to cap off a 7-2 TLU run.
• The back-and-forth action would continue throughout the rest of the opening period as Christian Seidl would give the YellowJackets a 41-39 before seeing Texas Lutheran score the final seven points including two late threes to go up 46-41 at the break.
• No time would be wasted by LETU to open the second half, scoring seven quick points in just 2:10 of action to reclaim the lead at 48-46.
• Lead changes would continue as four-point runs by both teams would flip-flop two-point leads for the Bulldogs and YellowJackets to put the score at 52-52 with 14:53 remaining.
• LeTourneau would continue their offensive spurt, scoring seven of the next nine points to open a 59-54 lead but see Texas Lutheran climb right back in it with a Sebastian Andrade triple.
• Continuing to see their lead range between one and five points, LETU would do their best to fend off the Bulldog attack but see an 8-0 TLU run put the YellowJackets in a 70-66 hole with 4:36 remaining.
• LeTourneau would not go down without a fight however, as West would drain back-to-back threes on consecutive possessions as the YellowJackets reclaimed the lead at 72-70 with 3:32 left in the game.
• TLU would come back and sink one-of-two free throws before Justin Moore would hit a driving layup to put LeTourneau up three at 74-71 which would be followed by two layups for Texas Lutheran to give the Bulldogs the lead at 75-74.
• LeTourneau would use a Caleb Loggins layup with 45 seconds remaining to take a 76-75 lead, but once again see TLU come back down the court and answer with a shot of their own.
• Trailing 76-75, the YellowJackets would see West miss a three-point attempt but grab an offensive rebound and hit a circus-shot underneath the basket while getting fouled as the junior would hit the free throw to give LETU a 79-78 lead.
• The heroics would ultimately come from Texas Lutheran however as a shot at the top of the free throw line just inside the three-point arc with one second remaining would fall to give the Bulldogs a stunning one-point victory.

Key Stats:

• West and Loggins would carry the load for LETU offensively, scoring 26 and 24 points each as both players would reach the 1,000-career point mark in today's loss.
•  LeTourneau would hold a 16-6 advantage in fast-break points and outscore TLU 14-7 in second-chance points but could not overcome a total of just three points from bench players.
• The game would feature a total of 22 lead changes and 10 ties, with LeTourneau holding a 38-33 advantage in rebounds.

 
What's Next?
After playing their first four games of the season away from home, LeTourneau will play their home opener on Tuesday, November 20th at 7 p.m. when they welcome Austin College to Solheim Arena. AC is playing games against Millsaps and Hendrix College this weekend in Conway, Arkansas as part of the SCAC/SAA Challenge prior to Tuesday's game.