RICHARDSON, Texas – An 18-5 run by Hardin-Simmons University five minutes into the game would be too much for the LeTourneau University men's basketball team to overcome in a 110-101 loss in the quarterfinal round of the 2019 American Southwest Conference Men's Basketball Tournament on Thursday, February 21st at the UTD Activity Center in Richardson, Texas.
 
LETU concludes their 2019 season with a 17-8 overall record while the Cowboys move on to tomorrow evening's ASC Tournament Semifinal round with a 16-10 overall record.
 
How It Happened:

• Playing in the first of four quarterfinal round games, the YellowJackets and Cowboys would waste little time getting off to a quick start as the two teams would trade the first 20 points of the game to put the score at 10-10 with 16:57 left in the first half.
• HSU would then use an 11-2 run over the next 2:29 of game action to force an early LeTourneau timeout as the Cowboys would hold a 21-12 lead.
• A Christian Seidl trey would stop the bleeding and pull LeTourneau back within six at 21-15 with 13:48 remaining in the opening period, but Hardin-Simmons would go on a 14-2 run to push their lead to 35-17 10 minutes into the game.
• Out of a timeout, HSU would score four more points to take their largest lead of the contest at 39-17 and put LeTourneau in one of their largest deficits of the season before seeing the YellowJackets responded with seven straight points to try and flip momentum.
• LeTourneau would continue to battle throughout the duration of the first half and would cut the once 22-point deficit down to 10 at 45-35 but would be unable to get any closer in the final minutes of the opening 20-minute period as a 61.1 percent shooting performance from HSU would give the Cowboys a 58-45 lead.
• It would be a quick start for LETU to open the second half as a 7-0 run capped off by a pair of Seidl free throws would get the YellowJackets within six at 58-52 but would once again see Hardin-Simmons keep LeTourneau from cutting the deficit any further.
• The HSU lead would remain in the seven to 10-point range as the Cowboys would have an answer for every LeTourneau bucket which would prevent the YellowJackets from threatening to take the lead throughout the opening 10 minutes of the second half.
• With LeTourneau trailing 82-71, LETU would score six straight points to cut the deficit to just five at 82-77 with 8:12 remaining in the game before HSU would respond with an 8-2 run to go back up 10 at 89-79 with just under seven minutes remaining.
• A Javaughn Dantzler triple with 4:54 remaining would be the last big push by LETU to try and make things interesting down the stretch by cutting the deficit down to six at 93-87, but Hardin-Simmons would respond with a three of their own and outscore the YellowJackets 17-14 in the final minutes as LeTourneau would be unable to get stops when they needed them most.

Key Stats:

• Both teams would end up shooting over 50 percent from the field in the game as the Cowboys would finish just shy of 60 percent at 59.7 percent (40-of-67) while the YellowJackets finished 38-for-73 from the field (52.1 percent).
• Free throw shooting would be a problem for LETU throughout as a 13-for-23 performance (56.5 percent) from the charity stripe would be empty points given away in addition to 60 points for Hardin-Simmons in the paint.
• Finishing his collegiate career with a 25-point, eight rebound performance, senior Caleb Loggins would lead the YellowJackets in scoring and rebounding while Dantzler scored a career-high 20 points in the game.