HOUSTON, Texas -- Four LeTourneau men's basketball players scored in double figures, but the visiting YellowJackets fell on the road at No. 18-ranked St. Thomas 73-69 on Tuesday night in non-conference action.
Deonte Jackson had 16 points to lead LeTourneau (4-8) while
Warren Richardson had 15 points,
Walker Blaine 13, and
Christian Adams 11 in the loss.
Jordan Pride added eight points with three steals and four rebounds. Jackson dished out four assists Richardson and Blaine grabbing seven rebounds each.
The YellowJackets led by as many as 10 (16-6) early in the first half and took a 20-13 lead on a driving layup from Adams with 10:24 left in the period. Jackson hit two 3-pointers and had eight points in the early going to give LeTourneau the lead.
St. Thomas (11-1), which moved up to 18th in the latest release of the D3hoops.com Top 25, outscored LeTourneau 22-12 the rest of the half to take a 35-32 lead into the break.
LeTourneau never led in the second half, but kept within striking distance. A
Caleb Ceasar three-point play with 12:08 left trimmed the margin to a single point at 50-49.Â
St. Thomas extended the lead to 10 (73-63) with three minutes to go before LeTourneau made one more push. Two free throws from Jackson followed by back-to-back baskets from Pride got the YellowJackets within 73-69 with 45 seconds left.
However, LeTourneau had only committed four fouls in the half and St. Thomas used the clock extensively as the YellowJackets fouled three times to get the Celts into the bonus. LeTourneau would get the ball back down by four but ran out of time to complete the comeback.
Calvin Williams and Calen Anderson had 12 points each to lead St. Thomas. The Celts shot 68 percent in the second half and made 50.9 percent (27-of-53) for the game.
LeTourneau connected on 50 percent (26-of-52) from the field with seven 3-pointers.
UP NEXT
LeTourneau will break for Christmas before returning to ASC action at Sul Ross State on Jan. 5 (7:30 p.m.).
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