MARSHALL, Texas – Needing late game heroics, junior guard Nate West would provide a game-winning layup with 2.5 seconds remaining as the LeTourneau University men's basketball team pulled out a thrilling 85-84 road victory over East Texas Baptist University at Ornelas Gymnasium on Tuesday, January 8th.
 
Sporting a 9-5 overall record, LETU is now 5-2 in the American Southwest Conference while the Tigers dropped below .500 to 6-7 overall and 4-3 in the ASC. In the past four meetings between ETBU and LETU, no game has been decided by more than 10 points as the four contests have seen the YellowJackets outscore the Tigers by a total of 374-373.
 
"That was one of those games where we are just thankful to get out of the gym with a win" said head coach Dan Miller in a post-game interview. "We didn't shoot the ball particularly well, had a lot of defensive breakdowns, and didn't move the ball like we usually do on offense." "I credit ETBU for making some good shots down the stretch and am thankful we did just enough to win." "We need a few good days of practice to be ready on Saturday."
 
How It Happened:

• Three-point shooting would be on-point for LeTourneau in the opening minutes as three of the first four made buckets by LETU would come from behind the arc to open an 11-2 lead on the Tigers.
• The LETU lead would grow to 11 following a Caleb Loggins layup before seeing East Texas Baptist use a 9-2 run to cut the lead down to just four at 15-11 with 12:58 left in the first half.
• LeTourneau's lead would be completely lost at the 10:32 mark following a Spencer Cochran triple as the Tigers would take their first lead of the game at 20-18 as part of a 14-2 ETBU run to put LETU in a 29-20 hole.
• Closing within three at 31-28 with 4:31 left before halftime, LeTourneau would see East Texas Baptist make one more push to extend their lead back out to eight by score six of the next nine points before conceding the final five points of the first half to trail by three at the break.
• Loggins would hit a fast break layup following a steal from Justin Moore to allow LeTourneau to re-take the lead at 38-37 as a back-and-forth second half would ensue.
• 11 lead changes would be had in the opening 4:03 of the second half as Elijah Gerber would break a 49-49 deadlock to put LETU up 51-49 in a much quicker paced period.
• LeTourneau would manage to maintain their lead for the next few minutes before a Robby Dooley layup allowed ETBU to claim a 55-54 lead as the lead changes would be far from over heading into the final 13 minutes of the game.
• A 10-0 YellowJacket run allowed LETU to grab a 67-59 lead with just over 10 minutes remaining as LeTourneau would appear to weather the storm before facing yet another run from a pesky Tiger team.
• Going scoreless over the next 3:57 saw LETU allow ETBU to score six straight points to cut the deficit down to two before a Christian Seidl layup broke the drought to put the YellowJackets back up two possessions which would be followed up by a West three to push the lead back out to seven.
• LeTourneau would answer ETBU on the offensive end over the next few possessions by trading two-point field goals for threes to go up nine following a Moore layup as LETU appeared to have control with 2:37 left in the game.
• Eight straight points by ETBU would pull the Tigers within a single-point at 81-80 with 28 seconds remaining as East Texas Baptist would be forced to foul and try to extend the game.
• Moore would go to the line and hit both free throws which would be followed up by a LeTourneau foul on the defensive end that allowed ETBU to hit a pair of free throws.
• The fouling would continue as LeTourneau would miss both opportunities to push the lead back out to three before being called for a foul with eight seconds remaining that allowed ETBU to re-take the lead at 84-83.
• West would take the ensuing inbounds pass and drive the length of the court before cutting across the lane to avoid an offensive foul and hit a layup with 2.5 seconds remaining as the YellowJackets for the second time this year would take a late lead in Marshall.
• Avoiding the same outcome as earlier this season against Texas Lutheran, LETU would stand tall on the defensive end and force a pass under the ETBU basket that would not allow for a shot to be attempted before time expired to escape with the victory.

 
Key Stats:

• Points off turnovers (25-14) and fast break points (23-13) would tell the story of the night for LeTourneau as the YellowJackets would make up for a 13-of-22 (59.1 percent) performance from the free throw line.
• The game would feature a total of 20 lead changes and seven ties as only once would either team be able to mount a double-digit lead (LETU at 13-2).
• Four players would wind up in double-figures for the YellowJackets led by a game-high 26 points from Loggins to go along with six rebounds. West would add 20 points and 10 rebounds while Seidl (15 points) and Moore (11 points, eight rebounds) also helped pace LETU.

 
What's Next?
A week of road games concludes for LeTourneau on Saturday, January 12th when they travel to Richardson, Texas to take on Texas-Dallas at the UTD Gymnasium at 3 p.m. The Comets will enter Saturday's contest on short rest as UTD will entertain East Texas Baptist Thursday evening in Richardson.