LONGVIEW, Texas – With a chance to win a share of the American Southwest Conference East Division Title and the right to host next weekend's ASC Championship Tournament, the LeTourneau University men's basketball would see a game-winning shot in the final seconds come up short to fall by a final score of 89-88 to Texas-Dallas at Solheim Arena on Thursday, February 14th.
 
With the regular-season officially in the books, LETU will enter next week's ASC Tournament with a 17-8 overall record with the tournament being hosted by the Comets who improve to 20-4 overall heading into their regular-season finale at East Texas Baptist Saturday afternoon.
 
How It Happened:

• Not much better of start could have been drawn up by the YellowJackets as senior Seth Mattson would race out and score 10 of the first 11 points in the game to give LeTourneau a 10-1 lead 4:08 into the game.
• Five straight points by Texas-Dallas would cut the lead down to four at 10-6 as the Comets would manage to cut the deficit to two with 13:35 left in the first half.
• LeTourneau would push their lead back to five on a Christian Seidl triple less than a minute later but see UTD continue to make their push to tie things up at 17-17 with 9:20 gone by in the opening period.
• Texas-Dallas would take their first lead of the game at 21-19 with 9:32 left in the first half and go up by 11 at 30-19 to cap off a 13-0 run but see Elijah Gerber pull LETU back within single-digits with a triple to stop the run.
• It would take LeTourneau the next four-plus minutes of game action to close the deficit down to a single-point at 34-33 with 3:36 remaining in the first half, but UTD would again go on a spurt by scoring six straight points to go back up seven with just over two minutes until intermission.
• A Jalen Weber triple for the Comets would seemingly give Texas-Dallas an eight-point halftime lead but it would Justin Moore who would hit a 15-foot jumper right with two seconds remaining to end the half and put the score 45-39 in favor of UTD.
• LeTourneau would try every which way to cut into the Texas-Dallas lead to open the second-half but would be unable to string a run together as the Comets would match the YellowJackets shot for shot.
• Mattson would provide a spark by hitting a three with 15:35 remaining to pull LETU within a single-possession at 51-48 before seeing Nate West score five of the next seven points to tie the game at 56-56.
• UTD would be quick to reclaim a six-point lead just minutes later by scoring seven of the next eight points but see West start to catch fire from outside as another triple put the score at 63-60 with just over 12 minutes remaining.
• Doing everything he could to get his team back into the game, West would tie the score once again at 71-71 with 7:56 remaining but could manage to get LeTourneau the lead as the Comets would find a way to stay one step ahead of the YellowJackets and keep from seeing a second-half deficit.
• Things would begin to look bleak as a pair of Michael Forster free throws would put Texas-Dallas up 85-77 with 3:02 remaining, but it would be LeTourneau who would score six of the next eight points with four of the six points coming at the charity strip to cut the lead in half with 1:23 remaining.
• A C.J. Bird trey with 51 seconds remaining would get LeTourneau back within a single-point at 87-86, but see the Comets manage to get a layup and call a timeout up three with 24 seconds remaining.
• Bird would then grab an offensive rebound off a missed West triple and get fouled on a put back, managing to hit both free throws with 11 seconds left to put the deficit back at a single-point (89-88).
• A chance for LETU to win would be given after Curtis Allen would miss the front end of a one-and-one free throw, but it would not be in the cards as a desperation shot from three would fall short by West and the ball tipped around until time expired to allow the Comets to escape.

 
Key Stats:

• It would be the efficiency of the Comets who shot 52.1 percent (37-for-71) from the field in the game while LeTourneau would cool off in the second half (15-of-39, 38.46 percent) to finish the game 29-of-68 (42.6 percent) from the field.
• Pouring in 17 of his career-high 20 points in the first half, Mattson would also add two rebounds in 26 minutes of action.
• West would add 28 points including 26 in the second half while Bird (13) and Caleb Loggins (10) would join the duo in double-figures.

 
What's Next?
LeTourneau will now play a waiting game to see who they will take on as the YellowJackets will open the ASC Tournament in game one which will take place at 12 p.m. on Thursday, February 21st at the UTD Activity Center in Richardson, Texas. LETU's two possible opponents are Concordia University Texas and Hardin-Simmons and will be decided following Saturday's regular-season finale's for both teams. Regardless of who LeTourneau squares off against, the YellowJackets will be looking to avenge an earlier season loss to either the Tornadoes (87-82 on 11/29/18) or the Cowboys (98-95 on 1/3/19).