PHOTO GALLERY | ASC CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL 

ALPINE, Texas – Coach Dan Miller said at the beginning of the year this was the one goal his LeTourneau University men's basketball team had to accomplish.

Consider it done.

LeTourneau beat East Texas Baptist, 82-79, to capture its first American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament title in school history. The YellowJackets (23-5) punched their ticket to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the second time in school history, and will await the announcement 11:30 a.m. Monday on NCAA.com.

"My first reaction goes back to all the players who've played on the teams we've had these past six seasons," Miller said. "I'm so excited for our program. It does feel like we finally got on top of the ladder tonight, and got it done for our program."

It was the YellowJackets' second trip to the ASC title game, and the victory was their third over ETBU (21-7) this season.

Nate West scored 36 points on 12 of 25 shooting, and had eight rebounds and three steals in being named the tournament's most valuable player.

Trailing 70-68 with 5:35 to go, LETU tied it on Kyle Matthews' jumper in the paint. West buried a triple with 4:09 remaining to put the Jackets ahead, but Robby Dooley answered with a 3-pointer of his own as the Tigers knotted it at 73. A back-and-forth exchange unfolded over the next two minutes, with ETBU tying the game for the 12^th time on Dooley's basket at the 1:58 mark.

West, who buried a beyond halfcourt shot for the second time this year, scored in the paint after both teams missed a shot to give LeTourneau a 79-77 lead with 54 seconds to play. The Tigers missed two field goals inside the final 30 seconds, and West grabbed the rebound on the second. He was fouled, and sank both free throws with 24 seconds to play to give the Jackets a four-point lead.

After Chris Haynes scored on an offensive putback with 13 seconds remaining, he was fouled on the shot. His free throw rimmed out, and West secured the rebound. West missed the front end of the one-and-one, giving the Tigers a chance to tie or take the lead. But Justin Moore blocked Dooley's layup with eight seconds to go. Following a timeout, ETBU committed a turnover, and West was fouled again. He sank the first of two free throws to make it a three-point game with five seconds to play. Matthews came up with a steal on the Tigers' last possession, and the YellowJackets won their first ASC postseason title.

"I just kept telling our guys, 'We're built for this. We finish games,'" Miller said. "Nate's four-point play was huge. I thought Kyle Matthews' defense down the stretch was outstanding. We found a way to win, and in a three-game run, that's just what you have to do."

LETU outscored ETBU, 18-7, in points off turnovers after forcing the Tigers to give it away 15 times. East Texas Baptist outscored LeTourneau, 31-4, in bench production, and 52-38 in the paint.

Haynes had 21 points and eight rebounds, and Dooley finished with 14 points and 11 boards for the Tigers. Justin Moore scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the YellowJackets. Korrin Taylor added nine points and a block, and Andrew Eberhardt eight points and three assists.

East Texas Baptist led by seven with 10:50 remaining when Nathan Fontenot hit a jumper in transition. But West, who went 6 of 12 from long range, buried back-to-back triples, and was fouled on the second to tie the game at 60. The Tigers built their lead back to five before Moore scored in the paint, and West came up with a steal that lead to another basket for his backcourt mate. That pulled LETU within 65-64 at the 7:58 mark.

Haynes hit a field goal with 7:28 to go to put the Tigers ahead by three. Eberhardt canned a jumper, and West scored in transition to give LeTourneau a 68-67 lead with 6:05 to play.

West broke the ASC tournament record for points, scoring 95 in the three games in Alpine. The previous mark was 93. He also broke the ASC record for points in a season, and has 779. That ranks second in school history behind Terry Zeitlow's 817 in 1985-86. West's 119 three-pointers this season also broke the ASC record, bettering his own school record in the process.

"I thought we had a great regular season ... but our biggest goal was to win the ASC," Miller said, noting the journey to do so against Mary Hardin-Baylor, host Sul Ross State and having to beat a team a third time in ETBU was a monstrous task. "I thought we had the toughest road in the tournament. To go through those three was just huge. I just loved the grit that we had this weekend."

 
ASC All-Tournament Team
Nate West, LeTourneau (MVP)
Robby Dooley, East Texas Baptist
Andrew Eberhardt, LeTourneau
Chris Haynes, East Texas Baptist
Tristen Licon, Sul Ross State
Justin Moore, LeTourneau
Jalen Weber, UT Dallas