POSTGAME INTERVIEW

LONGVIEW – It was nice to be back in Solheim, and the YellowJackets didn't disappoint.

LeTourneau University men's basketball team beat The Ozarks, 86-69, Thursday night in only the second home game of the season. The win pushed the YellowJackets to 9-3 overall, 2-1 in the American Southwest Conference.

"It felt good to be back in Solheim, and playing at home tonight," LETU coach Dan Miller said, following a 37-day hiatus from Solheim Arena. "We knew we had to do everything that we can to make sure we defended our home for our first ASC home game."

The Jackets opened a 23-14 lead with 8:49 to play in the opening half after Warren Richardson's three-pointer. John Argue hit a bucket in the lane to extend the gap to double digits, but the Eagles (5-8, 1-3) cut it to two on Bryson Johnson's layup at the 4:25 mark. Argue tripled on the next trip down the floor, and Justin Moore sank two free throws to push the lead back to seven. Argue scored on a setup from Moore, who then knocked down a jumper 1:56 before halftime to widen the gap to 11.

LeTourneau led 40-31 at halftime thanks to a 12-4 advantage in bench production.

"Garrett Beene hit a couple big shots off the bench tonight," Miller said. "Warren Richardson was huge off the bench with his timely shots. Defensively, Korin Taylor brought energy, just toughness, and Elijah (Gerber) … So that's the one thing about our team, maybe not always in the stats, but we just feel we're a very deep team. We can put any of our guys in, next man up, and that's something that we have. We have more than just a six, seven-man rotation. If we wanted to, I feel like we could be 12, 13, 14 deep."

LETU was 14 of 34 from the floor in the first half, and went 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Ozarks shot 11 of 30, and 6-for-6 from the stripe.

The YellowJackets built a 14-point lead 7:26 into the second half when Moore knocked down a triple, but the Eagles weathered the storm, trimming the deficit to six after a basket by Darnel Renelique and one of two free throws by Jacobe Davis midway through the half. Tim Turpin canned a three to pull the Eagles within 60-55 with 8:55 remaining.

"We knew with Ozarks, with their quick guards, I told our guys, 'No matter what the score is, if we have a lead, that this is a dangerous team,'" Miller said. "We needed a little refocus. Once we came out of that timeout, I can't remember the exact time … but I could tell our guys were focused. They didn't panic, they trust each other, and that was a key word. Just trust the next man up. They stood up and made the plays."

Following the timeout at the 8:53 mark, Argue scored on one of Nate West's five assists to make it a seven-point game. Ozarks pulled within four on James Helzer's triple, but West answered with one of his five 3-pointers to push it back to seven again. West hit another triple, Argue came away with a steal and then sank two free throws, and West was fouled shooting a three, knocking down all three at the stripe to stretch the lead out to 13.

"It's a thing we like to call adversity," Moore said of recovering from Ozark's late push to shrink the Jackets' once-comfortable lead. "We take a quick breath, we call a timeout, but we understand, settle down, and once we execute our plays, it's really hard for us to stop scoring honestly. We've just got to guard on the other end."

That the YellowJackets did when the game mattered most. LeTourneau outscored Ozarks, 24-11, in the final seven-and-a-half minutes after the Eagles cut the gap to four.

West finished with 28 points, 14 rebounds and four steals. Argue had 13 points, five rebounds and three steals. Kyle Matthews had 10 points in his fourth straight start. Moore had eight points, five rebounds, four assists and a steal. Richardson scored eight points and blocked two shots.

Davis had 20 points, and Cordy Winston and Turpin scored 14 apiece for the Eagles, who matched the YellowJackets with 37 rebounds.

LeTourneau had 20 assists on 29 made field goals. Ozarks had 18 on 27. The Jackets were 11 of 35 from 3-point range. The Eagles were 8 of 19.

LETU will host Texas at Dallas 3 p.m. Saturday in a big game in the ASC East.

"UT Dallas is a great team," Miller said. "They have a lot of seniors. Any team that's seniors (heavy), they're going to be tough to beat. They're big, they're strong, they have a dynamic point guard who can score the ball from anywhere on the floor. Last year, we had two battles with them that came down to the last possession, and they took first, we took second (in the ASC East). So we're hoping to lock in, and just be ready for a great game Saturday. We like our matchups, too."