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LeTourneau University Athletics

LeTourneau University, opens in new tab
LeTourneau University, opens in new tab
Phakhaphum Padmanuja
73
Winner LeTourneau LETU 3-4
72
Willamette WILLAM 0-5
Winner
LeTourneau LETU
3-4
73
Final
72
Willamette WILLAM
0-5
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
LeTourneau LETU 31 42 73
Willamette WILLAM 38 34 72

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Contact: Matt Kinney, Sports Information Director, mattkinney@letu.edu

LeTourneau Men's Basketball Escapes With Last-Second Win At Willamette

SALEM, Oregon – Connecting on just two three-point field goals in the second half, the LeTourneau University men's basketball team managed to push the ball up the court and find an open Christian Seidl who would hit an open game-winning three from 25 feet at the buzzer to give the YellowJackets a 73-72 road win over Willamette University at Cone Field House in Salem, Oregon on Friday, November 9th.
 
The win gives LETU a season-opening victory for the third-straight season while the host Bearcats fall to 0-1 in heartbreaking fashion.
 
How It Happened:
  • Looking to play at an up-tempo pace, LeTourneau would see the Bearcats push the issue in the opening minutes of the game with a 7-1 run after allowing a game-opening basket to take a 7-3 lead 45 seconds into the game.
  • Layups by Caleb Loggins and Seth Mattson would bring the YellowJackets back to tie the game at 7-7 two minutes later as both teams would trade buckets before the YellowJackets would use a 10-0 run to take a 17-9 lead at the 14:58 mark of the first half.
  • LETU would take their largest lead of the game at 20-11 following a triple from Seidl but see a scoring drought allow for the next three minutes of the game to go scoreless.
  • The Bearcats would break the drought with a layup to cut the LeTourneau lead to seven at 20-13 and use a 7-0 run to pull back within two at 20-18.
  • Willamette would reclaim the lead on a Justus Eaglesmith three with 6:56 remaining in the first half to go up 23-22 and use a 12-3 run to push their lead to six at 35-29 with just over a minute left before halftime.
  • LeTourneau would get one free throw each from Justin Moore and Loggins in the final minute of the first period but see a corner triple off an offensive rebound for Willamette put the Bearcats up 38-31 at the break.
  • Needing a spark to get battle their way back into the game, LETU would see Willamette open the second half with five of the first seven points and face their biggest deficit of the game at 10 points (43-33).
  • Mattson and Loggins would then put the YellowJackets on a 10-0 run capped off with a Nate West layup to tie the game at 43-43 with 16:33 left in the game.
  • A quick five points by the Bearcats quickly put Willamette back up by a score of 48-43, but LeTourneau would manage to claw their way back and take their first lead of the second half on a Seidl layup with 9:59 left in the second half.
  • Three-point shooting would allow Willamette to stay in the game and reclaim the lead yet again as neither team would claim a lead of larger than five down the stretch.
  • Moore would put LETU on a 5-2 run to give the YellowJackets a four-point lead at 63-59 with just over 5 minutes left to play, but three consecutive triples by the Bearcats quickly flipped the score to a five-point margin in favor of Willamette with just 3:52 remaining.
  • Defense would then start to crack down for LeTourneau, scoring six of the next eight points to trail by one at 70-69 with 1:49 remaining before a foul with 29 seconds left would send West to the free throw line.
  • West would manage to hit the front end of a two-shot trip to the line to tie the score at 70-70, forcing LETU to go back on defense and try and get a stop.
  • Willamette would play aggressive in the waning seconds, drawing a foul with 6.7 seconds left that would give Jordan Jenkins two free throws as the senior would sink both shots.
  • With one final chance to tie or win the game, West would bring the ball up into the frontcourt and face a double-team that would leave Seidl open from well beyond the three-point line.
  • The senior would play the role of hero with a shot that rattled home as time expired to allow the YellowJackets to escape with a one-point victory.
Key Stats:
  • Early-season woes would do their best to slow down the YellowJackets as LETU would manage to hit just 10-of-25 free throws in the game compared to a perfect 8-for-8 from the Bearcats.
  • Willamette would also manage to double up LeTourneau in three-point field goals, hitting 10 in the game which included a six-for-11 performance in the second half but could not overcome a 19-6 advantage for LETU in points off turnovers.
  • Four players in LeTourneau's starting five would wind up in double-figure points as Moore and West would score a game-high 19 points while Loggins would add 13 points and seven rebounds while hitting the 500-career rebound milestone.
What's Next?
LeTourneau will find out where they stand from a national standpoint on Sunday, November 11th as they travel to Walla Walla, Washington to take on perennial powerhouse and number-four nationally-ranked Whitman College in a non-conference matchup at 3 p.m. (PST) at the Sherwood Athletic Center. The Blues will be playing in their season-opener on Sunday and are a combined 83-8 over the past three seasons which includes a 43-3 overall record at home in that span.
 
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