LONGVIEW, Texas -- The LeTourneau men's basketball team returned home for the first time in four weeks and fell short in an 86-73 loss to No. 24-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor on Thursday night inside Solheim Arena.
Warren Richardson had 21 points and six rebounds to lead the way for LeTourneau (3-5, 0-3 ASC) as he shot 9-of-10 from the field.
Christian Adams had 17 points with eight rebounds and five assists, while
Walker Blaine added 14 points and
Deonte Jackson had 12 points.
Despite those four in double-figures, LeTourneau could not overcome the visiting Cru as Ty Prince and Josiah Johnson combined for 54 points and UMHB led for the majority of the contest. Prince had 28 points with nine rebounds as Johnson tallied 26 points with an 11-for-11 effort at the foul line.
The YellowJackets led early on at 14-13 after Richardson converted a conventional three-point play with 14:48 left in the first half. A Prince 3-pointer on the Cru's next possession kicked off a 22-9 scoring spurt for the visitors as UMHB took its largest lead of the half at 35-23. LeTourneau got within five at the break (46-41) after a Richardson dunk late in the half.
LeTourneau battled in the second half, but found it tough to make up any ground on the Cru. UMHB strung the lead out to 17 (69-52) with over nine minutes left before the YellowJackets made a late push. Another three-point play from Richardson trimmed the deficit to 73-67 with 3:34 remaining, but that was as close as the YellowJackets would get.
LeTourneau made 49.1 (28-of-57) from the field with six 3-pointers and 11-of-14 at the free throw line. UMHB made 60.8 percent (31-of-51) for the game and went 8-of-12 from beyond the arc while hitting 16-of-21 at the line.
HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT
UP NEXT
LeTourneau returns to action at home on Saturday against Concordia (3 p.m.).
