TYLER, Texas – It would take overcoming multiple second-half deficits, foul trouble for two key starters, and a 19-point, 14-rebound performance by junior Christian Seidl for the LeTourneau University men's basketball team to walk away from the Herrrington Patriot Center with a 93-86 road victory over the University of Texas-Tyler Patriots on Thursday, February 1st.
 
Winners of five straight, LETU is now 17-3 overall and 11-2 in the American Southwest Conference while the Patriots have lost three straight games to fall to 13-7 overall and 6-7 in the ASC.
 
"The difference tonight came down to the guys sticking together despite facing a few obstacles and that's what it's all about on a night like tonight" said head coach Dan Miller in a post-game interview. "I am extremely proud of Christian Seidl for coming off the bench and getting 15 rebounds (nine offensive) and we had a stretch in the middle part of the first half where we had a lot of turnovers which was tough." "Even guys like Javaughn Dantzler who had to play out of position came in and did an excellent job." "UT-Tyler is a great, well-coached team and they have great personnel so it took everything we had to get two wins over them this year."
 
Turnovers would not be an issue for either team as the YellowJackets would limit their turnovers to just seven in the game compared to 10 for UTT while holding a 12-11 points off turnovers advantage. A massive 60-34 advantage in points in the paint for the Patriots would not be enough for the victory as LeTourneau sniped in eight-of-24 three's which included four from senior guard Alec Colhoff.
 
Colhoff finished the game with 18 points and becomes the first player in LETU history to hit 200 triples in a career, setting the career record on his second trey of the night. Sophomore Nate West led the YellowJackets with 20 points, nine rebounds, and six assists while also going a perfect six-for-six from the line. Justin Moore added 18 points while junior Caleb Loggins had 10 points and five rebounds.

It wouldn't take much for either offensive attack to get started in the early going, with UT-Tyler jumping out to leads of 2-0 and 5-2 on their first two possessions of the game before LETU would score the next seven points to take a 9-5 lead with 17:16 left in the first half. Following the game's first media timeout, Seidl would come off the bench and score the next six points for LeTourneau while forcing a UTT timeout with 13:55 left in the first half.  

Colhoff would make history by splashing in his second triple of the game to hit the elusive 200 mark with 8:52 left in the period as the YellowJackets would take thier largest lead of the game at 24-16. LeTourneau's lead managed to dwindle to one with just over four minutes left in the first half when Emeka Obukwelu gave the Patriots their first lead since the opening two minutes of the game with a jumper in the paint as part of an 11-6 run by Texas-Tyler. Things would be complicated with 2:47 left in the first half when Loggins would pick up his third foul of the half heading into the final media timeout as a pair of layups for UTT gave the Patriots a 39-34 halftime lead. 

Foul trouble carried over into the second half as both Loggins and Herrera would go to the bench with four fouls with 16 minutes left in the game and the YellowJackets clinging onto a 47-46 lead. The smaller lineup that LETU would deploy provided a spark that saw the YellowJackets match their largest lead of the game at the 13:36 mark of the second half with Moore throwing down a breakaway dunk off a West steal. 

LETU's lead would be held for the next five minutes of game action before seeing the Patriots go on a 10-2 run to knot the game at 69-69 with 7:02 remaining in the game as a grind-it-out battle was about to ensue. Eight lead changes in the final six minutes of the game saw UTT reclaim the lead at 73-72 on a Skyler Hadden runner before pushing the lead to four at the charity stripe as the YellowJackets would call on their two big men in foul trouble. 

Herrera picked up his fifth foul with 4:07 left in the game as UT-Tyler would hold  a 74-77 lead after a one-for-two trip to the free throw line before Moore would score the next four points of the game to give LETU a 78-77 lead. The next four buckets of the game would be traded between the two teams, with Moore giving LeTourneau the lead for good with 2:07 left on a drive to the hole to make the score 82-81. Seven of LeTourneau's final 10 points came in the form of free throws as the YellowJackets would do just enough to hang on and earn the win. 
 
The weekend road swing will conclude on Saturday when LeTourneau travels to take on the University of the Ozarks at 4 p.m. on Saturday, February 3rd. Earlier this season, LETU picked up an 86-64 win over the Eagles inside of Solheim Arena.