LONGVIEW – The YellowJackets will play for the American Southwest Conference Championship Saturday evening.

LeTourneau University men's basketball team beat host Sul Ross State, 73-66, in the ASC semifinals Friday night to advance to their second league title game in school history. It is the YellowJackets' first trip to the conference finals since 2017 when they fell to Hardin-Simmons.

The Jackets (22-5) left little doubt they'd get there this year after storming to a 16-point halftime lead, and holding off the Lobos in crunch time to set up a matchup with East Texas Baptist (21-6) in the championship.

"The guys defended with passion tonight from start to finish," LETU coach Dan Miller said. "We got stuck on offense in the second half, and Sul Ross made some great plays to bring it to a three-point game."

The Lobos (17-10) trimmed a 17-point second half deficit down to four with 8:26 remaining. Garrett Beene's three-pointer bumped the lead back to 11 for the Jackets with 6:54 to go, but Jake Lopez converted a three-point play with 4:09 remaining to cut it to four again. Avery Cole split a pair at the free throw line with 3:00 remaining as the Lobos got within three, but the YellowJackets hit six of their next seven free throws, and Sul Ross State had two missed layups, two missed triple tries and a couple turnovers, allowing LeTourneau to win going away.

Beene scored a career-high 17 points on 6 of 7 shooting. He was 5 of 6 from three-point range.

LETU shot 48.5 percent in the first half, going 17 of 35 from the field. SRSU was held to 34 percent shooting in the opening half on 11 of 34.

"I thought we played a great first half," Miller said. "We were executing on some things, and we were flowing offensively the way we needed to attack. It's different playing Sul Ross, the way they keep the ball on the side of the floor, so we try to space out and penetrate and find the right play. But the second half, we knew coach (Clif) Carroll was going to have his team playing hard and fighting, and the crowd got into it. They got it within three, and that's when you learn about your team."

LETU didn't allow a field goal in the final three minutes after the Lobos pulled within one possession.

The Jackets shot 33 percent in the second half, going 5 of 15 from long range. Sul Ross State was held to 2 of 13 shooting from the 3-point line in the half.
"Gutcheck time," Miller said. "We made winning plays."

Nate West finished with 23 points, eight assists and nine rebounds, playing the entire game. He was 6-for-6 from the free throw line. John Argue had 16 points, seven boards, two blocks and two steals. Justin Moore had eight points, five rebounds and five assists. Kyle Matthews added seven points and nine rebounds.

West will be headed back to his second ASC Championship game, becoming the first player in school history to reach two titles game.

"This is probably the most special thing I've done," West said smiling in the postgame press conference. "I just said, 'It's been a long time since me and you've been here Coach.'"

They're here now, and 40 minutes away from something they've never done before.