RICHARDSON, Texas – Behind a 57-point second-half, the LeTourneau University men's basketball team would overcome a 14-point halftime deficit to force overtime before defeating the University of Texas-Dallas by a final score of 107-100 to clinch the American Southwest Conference East Division outright at the UTD Activity Center in Richardson, Texas on Thursday, February 15th.
 
With tonight's victory, LETU ties last year's team for most-wins in a single-season with 22 as the YellowJackets are now 22-3 overall and 16-2 in the ASC. The Comets fall to 17-7 overall and 13-4 in the ASC with LeTourneau winning the ASC East Division by two games.

"I am running out of ways to praise the toughness and heart of this team" said head coach Dan Miller in a post-game interview. "UT-Dallas played a great first half and we found ourselves in a double-digit deficit at the break." "We talked at halftime about just playing the way we do and our guys responded the second half." "We practice situations every practice and tonight it showed with two baskets in the final 15 seconds." "I am extremely proud of this team for back-to-back ASC East Championships and am excited to keep our season going in the ASC Tournament."
 
In the game, Texas-Dallas would outshoot LeTourneau by finishing 39-for-78 (50.0 percent) from the field and connecting on six-of-17 treys (35.3 percent). LETU shot just 48.6 percent (34-for-70) from the field and connected on six triples, but made up for it with a 33-of-41 (80.5 percent) finish at the charity stripe. Only seven of the 41 free throws would come in the first half for LeTourneau, as the YellowJackets used a 19-12 advantage in points off turnovers to squeak out the road victory.
 
Sophomore Nate West took a majority of the free throw attempts, going 14-of-16 from the line and finishing with 26 points while also coming down with three rebounds, six assists, one steal, and one block. Junior Caleb Loggins netted 21 points and fell just two rebounds shy of a double-double but had three blocks while freshman Justin Moore dropped 20 points and had five assists to go with three steals. Christian Seidl had 18 points off the bench and a team-high nine rebounds in the game as LETU used a nine-man rotation throughout the night.
 
LeTourneau would briefly hold the lead in the first half, taking a two point lead at 4-2 on a Caylab Herrera layup and again at 6-5 on an Alec Colhoff layup before the Comets would go on a 10-0 run to open up a 15-6 lead on the YellowJackets. LETU's scoring drought would last 3:43 as a pair of Seth Mattson free throws ended the run for UTD.
 
Texas-Dallas would use the three-point shot to open up their largest lead of the evening, connecting on a triple with 9:48 left in the first half to open up a 31-15 lead before seeing LeTourneau pull back within 11 at 35-24 on a Caylab Herrera dunk with 6:50 remaining in the first period. LETU would be unable to pull any closer than nine points the rest of the half as Texas-Dallas would score the final five points of the half to lead by a score of 48-34 at the break.
 
To open the second half, LeTourneau would use an 8-2 run to get the score back to single-digits and build momentum as the score would be cut to 50-42 just 1:47 into the half. The deficit would stay in single-digits from the 16:16 mark on in the second half as the YellowJackets slowly chipped away at the Comet lead and got within two at 59-57 with 11:35 left in regulation.
 
Back-to-back buckets for UTD gave Texas-Dallas some breathing room as the lead grew back out to eight at 71-63, but it would be the YellowJackets who once again would fight their way back and end up tying the game at 76-76 with 5:17 remaining in the second half. LeTourneau's first lead since the opening minutes of the game would come on a Moore layup with 4:14 remaining in regulation before the Comets responded with two straight hoops to go back up by a score of 82-80 following the final media timeout of the game.
 
Things would begin to look bleak for LETU as UTD would score five of the next seven points to go up by a score of 89-86 with 27 seconds remaining, but West would be fouled with 22 seconds left and connect on one of two free throws. Caleb Banks for Texas-Dallas would sink a pair of free throws to put the Comets up four, but West would quickly race down the floor for a layup to bring LETU back within two at 91-89 with 12 seconds remaining.
 
LeTourneau would be forced to foul, which they would do to Michael Forster with just eight seconds remaining and needing the freshman forward to miss at least one of the two free throws. Forster would wind up missing both free throws which allowed for Seidl to collect the defensive rebound and get down the court to hit a layup with just one second remaining. UTD would be unable to answer the bucket, sending the game to overtime tied at 91.
 
In the extra session, LeTourneau would allow a quick bucket to Dimitrius Underwood before scoring on their next two possessions with the second opportunity a bucket and free throw for Loggins to go up 96-93. UT-Dallas would cut the YellowJacket lead down to one with 3:11 left in the overtime session, but six straight points would give LETU their largest lead of the game at 102-95 with just 1:42 left in the game. The Comets could get no closer than four in the final minutes as the YellowJackets would go six-for-seven from the free throw line in the extra period.