ALPINE, Texas – A nine-point halftime deficit would be overcome by the LeTourneau University men's basketball team before seeing East Texas Baptist University use an 11-1 run in the second half to take the lead for good as the YellowJackets would fall by a score of 108-101 in the American Southwest Conference Tournament Semifinals at the Gallego Center in Alpine, Texas on Friday, February 23rd.
The loss leaves LeTourneau with a 23-4 overall record and sees LETU's 11-game win streak snapped as the Tigers advance to tomorrow's ASC Tournament Championship game while improving to 21-6 overall.
"Man I love this team and all of these young men" said head coach
Dan Miller in a post-game interview. "I know how great our team is and I hope our season can continue with an at-large bid at 23-4." "No matter what happens, these young men have so much to be proud of and God had blessed our team so much." "A true basketball family!"
East Texas Baptist shot efficiently all night long, using a 16-of-26 (61.5 percent) performance in the second half to finish 37-for-67 (51.2 percent) in the game. LeTourneau would turn in a 31-for-69 (44.9 percent) shooting percentage from the field, and be held to just six threes in the game (6-of-20, 30.0 percent). Bench points would prove to be a key factor for the Tigers in the game, holding a 39-11 advantage while also outscoring LETU 15-8 in fast-break points.
In what might be his final collegiate game, senior
Alec Colhoff finished with 14 points to go along with four rebounds and was one of five YellowJackets in double-figures. Freshman
Justin Moore and junior
Caleb Loggins each had a team-high 25 points in the game with Moore finished with eight rebounds and four assists. Sophomore
Nate West would score 20 points which included a perfect 12-for-12 performance at the charity stripe while
Christian Seidl had all 11 bench points for LeTourneau.
The third meeting would play out very similar to the first two battles that took place in mid-January followed by last week as the YellowJackets would jump out to a 10-4 lead with 16:22 remaining in the first half on a Loggins steal and layup. Three-point shooting would be the key for ETBU in the first half, connecting on a Landin Brown triple to pull back within three before scoring back-to-back layups to take their first lead of the game at 11-10. LeTourneau would tie the game at 11-11 following a one-for-two trip to the charity stripe by Loggins, and use the free throw line again with West connecting on a pair of free throws to tie the game at 13-13 with 13:38 remaining in the first half.
An 11-1 run by the Tigers would force LETU to face their first double-digit deficit of the ASC tournament at 24-14, but a Seidl triple out of the 12-minute media timeout brought the YellowJackets back to within 24-17 with 11:08 remaining in the first half. East Texas Baptist responded with an 8-0 run to take their largest lead of the first half at 32-17, shooting well over 50 percent from the field while connecting on their sixth three of the first half.
LeTourneau would finally find their offensive stroke midway through the first half, going on an 8-0 run of their own to cut the once 15-point deficit back down to seven. ETBU then used a 7-0 to nearly match the once 15-point lead at 39-25. The YellowJackets would slowly chip away at the Tiger lead in the remaining seven minutes of the first half, not allowing East Texas Baptist to push their lead out any larger than 13 at 43-30 with 6:05 left. Despite repeated efforts from LeTourneau, the deficit would remain right around the double-digit mark before settling at nine with the score 55-46 at the break.
The nine-point deficit would be the largest that LeTourneau would face in all three of their matchups with the Tigers this season, with the 55 points the second-most that the YellowJackets had given up in the first half all season.
LeTourneau would come out determined to open the second half, allowing a bucket to Jordan Gosey before scoring the next seven points to cut the lead to 57-53 and force an ETBU timeout. LETU managed to get within two points at 60-56 with 16:36 remaining in the second half and would pull within one at 64-63 as the Tigers would do everything in their power to try and maintain their lead.
A Moore triple with 14:27 remaining in the game knotted the game up at 66-66, with both teams trading points over the next three minutes of play to see three additional ties before seeing West give LETU their first lead of the second half. LeTourneau would use an 8-0 run to take their largest lead of the game at 78-72 with 9:55 remaining, but it would East Texas Baptist who would respond with seven straight points to reclaim the lead at 79-78 just 1:44 later.
Following two more ties on the next two possessions, ETBU would use a pair of Robby Dooley free throws to take an 81-80 lead with 7:09 remaining en route to going on an 8-2 run to take an 87-82 lead. The Tiger lead would grow to 10 points at 95-85 with 2:38 remaining as East Texas Baptist would threaten to put the game out of reach heading into crunch time. LeTourneau would use one last run to cut the lead in half and close to within five at 95-90 just 26 seconds later, but free throws for ETBU combined with empty possessions for LETU would be too much to overcome.
LeTourneau will have to play the waiting game to see if there is any possibility at receiving one of 21 at-large berths into the 2018 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship. The selection show airs on Monday, February 26th at 11:30 A.M. (CT) on NCAA.com when the full 64-team field will be released. Heading into Friday's games, LeTourneau had the sixth-most wins of any NCAA Division III team this season, and was ranked fourth in the latest NCAA Division III South Region Rankings.
