LONGVIEW, Texas – Using a 54-point first half and 41 points from junior Nate West, the LeTourneau University men's basketball team earned a 100-84 home victory over Belhaven University at Solheim Arena on Thursday, January 17th.
 
Picking up their 10th win of the season, LETU is now 10-6 overall and 6-3 in the American Southwest Conference while the Blazers drop to 7-8 overall and 2-6 in ASC action.
 
"We did a good job in the first half on the boards and playing low-turnover basketball" said head coach Dan Miller in a post-game interview. "Second half we were a bit up and down as Belhaven has a good team that does not quit." "Obviously Nate West had a special game scoring the ball and made some great plays and overall I am proud of the guys for getting a home conference win."
 
How It Happened:

• With a hot hand from the opening tip, West would score the first six points of the game as the YellowJackets and Blazers would wind up trading the first 12 points of the contest to set the tone of an anticipated high-scoring affair.
• A smaller 5-0 spurt by LeTourneau allowed LETU to reclaim the lead at 11-6, but saw Belhaven score the next six points of the contest to briefly take a 12-11 lead with 14:27 remaining in the first half.
• The back-and-forth continued between the squads with a 15-15 tie getting broken by a C.J. Bird layup which would be part of a 10-0 run to put the YellowJackets up 23-15 to gain some breathing room heading into the final 10 minutes of the first half.
• West would continue his scoring touch throughout the first half, going on an 8-2 run for LETU to give LeTourneau a 36-22 lead as part of a 22-point first-half outing for the Houston, Texas native.
• LETU would continue to pressure and take advantage of self-inflicted wounds by the Blazers, pushing their lead to as many as 21 in the first half to grab a 54-33 lead at the break by scoring six of the final nine points of the period.
• LeTourneau would look to build upon their 20-plus point lead in the opening stages of the second half but could not build upon the first-half momentum following a West layup to give the YellowJackets their largest lead of the game at 56-33.
• Belhaven would continue their efficient offensive performance and slowly chip away at the LETU lead by using an 8-0 run to pull within 13 at 61-48 with 16:27 remaining.
• The YellowJackets once again would take over and by scoring seven of the next nine points to push the lead back out to 18 at 68-50 and eventually matching their largest lead of the game just a few minutes later (75-52).
• LeTourneau would be tasked with facing yet another Belhaven run as the Blazers refuse to go away quietly, managing to close within 11 at 82-71 with 6:02 remaining following a layup and free throw for Laramie Long.
• In the final six-plus minutes of action, LETU would manage to keep pace with Belhaven and use an 8-2 run to put the game far enough out of reach at 94-75 with 3:19 remaining and would eventually settle for the 16-point win.

Key Stats:

• In addition to a new career-high with 41 points, West would also shine defensively with four steals and three defensive rebounds.
• Caleb Loggins would add 17 points of his own to go along with four steals, eight rebounds, five assists, and two blocks as the first of his two blocks would set a new LeTourneau University career-record. The Lewisville, Texas native now has 150 stuffs in his YellowJacket career.
• The YellowJackets would also feast on a 28-8 points off turnovers advantage to go along with a 23-12 difference in fast-break points as Belhaven would be unable to overcome just four second-chance points.

What's Next?
Back in action on Saturday, LeTourneau will host Louisiana College for Battle of the Halls at Solheim Arena with tip-off scheduled for 3 p.m. The Wildcats were handed a 94-80 road loss on Thursday at East Texas Baptist University and will enter Saturday's contest with a 13-3 overall record and 6-2 mark in the ASC.