GEORGETOWN, Texas -- Trailing the entire second half, the LeTourneau men's basketball team fought hard but saw its comeback attempt come up short in a loss against No. 18 Trinity, 88-84, on Sunday afternoon in the Paul Peak Classic.
LeTourneau (2-1) trailed by 11 in the second half, but trimmed the deficit to a single point late in the half before falling.
Deonte Jackson had 20 points and four steals to lead the way for the YellowJackets. Jackson has scored 20-plus points in all three regular season games this year.
Down by seven points with 3:24 remaining in the second half, the YellowJackets proceeded to go on an 8-2 run capped off with a Jackson made free throw, cutting the deficit to one point 85-84. The opposing Tigers would put together three straight defensive stops to secure the victory.
Warren Richardson added 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Jordan Pride added 13 points of his own, going 3-of-5 from downtown. Christian Adams contributed with 11 points, five rebounds, and six assists. John Argue managed 10 points and eight rebounds, helping the YellowJackets take control of the boards. LeTourneau had a 36-30 edge in the rebounding category.
Jackson and Walker Blaine's back-to-back 3-pointers with 9:45 left in the second half cut the deficit to seven for the YellowJackets and an Adams layup with 7:05 would cut the deficit to one 74-73.
The layup would not phase the opposing Tigers going back up by eight points with 4:25 remaining, a Jackson 3-pointer with 1:39 remaining in the second half would cut the lead to two points 85-83 and a Jackson free throw got the margin to one with under a minute left. LeTourneau got possession back down by two, but could not convert a contested layup and Trinity iced the game at the free throw line.
The YellowJackets led by eight in the first half after a 16-3 scoring run over a four-plus minute stretch. Pride's triple capped the run and gave LeTourneau a 32-24 lead with 7:59 left in the half. Trinity responded and took a 46-43 lead at the break.
LeTourneau shot 52.3 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from 3-point range and shared the wealth nicely converting 20 assists to an opposing Tigers' 12.
Trinity (3-1) was led by Jacob Harvey with 23 points and A.J. Clark along with Abdullah Roberts contributed with 14 points each.
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LeTourneau heads to Schreiner on Saturday in Kerrville (2 p.m.).
