CLARKSVILLE, Ark. – A 62-point first half explosion allowed for a 23-point first-half lead to hold as the LeTourneau University men's basketball team picked up a 107-96 road win at the University of the Ozarks at the Mabee Gymnasium on Saturday, February 3rd.
The win gives LETU a six-game winning streak as the YellowJackets improved to 18-3 overall and 12-2 in the American Southwest Conference while the Eagles fell to 3-18 overall and 1-13 in the ASC.
"I'm proud of the guys for getting a road win today" said head coach
Dan Miller in a post-game interview. "However it was the tale of two halves with our defensive execution." "The first half we played with energy on defense and the second half we were a step slow on defense." "It was a combination of Ozarks shooting the ball well and our energy the second half on defense." "I look forward to practice to get it tightened up for next week."
A low rebounding game saw LeTourneau hold a 31-26 advantage on the glass while netting 36 points in the paint to go along with 14 fast break points. LETU shot 36-of-70 (51.4 percent) from the field and went to the free-throw line 36 times, making 30 attempts (83.3 percent). The Eagles would face offensive struggles in the first half which would cause the large deficit before finishing 33-for-70 (47.1 percent) from the floor in the game.
Senior
Caylab Herrera led LETU with a career-high 24 points on the day, adding one block and six boards to his total. Freshman
Justin Moore was not far behind Herrera, dropping 22 points and hauling in nine rebounds while
Nate West had 16 points, eight rebounds, and six assists. Junior
Christian Seidl also had 16 points in the game while
Caleb Loggins also reached double-figures with 15 points. Ozarks was led by a game-high of 32 points from Dylan Gray.
Heading into the final two weeks of the regular-season, LeTourneau currently hold the best record in the ASC, and has a one-game lead over East Texas Baptist and Texas-Dallas in the American Southwest Conference East Division. The YellowJackets will play their next game at Louisiana College at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 8th.
