BELTON, Texas -- The LeTourneau men's basketball team came back from a 12-point deficit in the second half and forced overtime, but Mary Hardin-Baylor's DJ Kane hit a jumper with 1.1 seconds left in the extra session to give the host Cru a 75-74 victory over the YellowJackets on Saturday afternoon in ASC play.

LeTourneau (9-11, 6-7 ASC) had a 74-71 lead with under a minute to play after a Warren Richardson jumper. Mary Hardin-Baylor (15-4, 10-2 ASC), ranked No. 22 in the D3hoops.com Top 25, got within one on a Josiah Johnson jumper with 45 seconds to go.

Following a LeTourneau turnover with 12 seconds remaining, Kane drained a mid-range jumper with 1.1 seconds left to give UMHB its only lead of overtime. LeTourneau had one final chance, but could not go the length of the court to get a shot off.

It was a wild, back-and-forth, game. UMHB led by 12 early in the second half, only to see LeTourneau chip away at the margin. The YellowJackets surged ahead 64-59 after a 10-0 run culminated in a Jackson Mayes bucket with 4:30 left in the second half. 

UMHB rallied to tie the score at 67, but a Deonte Jackson basket with 1:11 left in the period gave the YellowJackets a two-point lead. Ty Prince evened the score with his bucket for the Cru with under a minute to play.

Both teams had point-blank looks in the final 30 seconds to win the game. Prince missed a short jumper that rimmed down and out with 21 seconds left before Richardson had his attempt rim-out from short range with 11 seconds remaining. The YellowJackets forced Josiah Johnson into a deep 3-point attempt that was off target as time expired to send the game into overtime.

LeTourneau quickly took a three-point lead (72-69) in overtime as Walker Blaine made 1-of-2 at the line and Richardson grabbed the offensive rebound and made the putback. UMHB missed its first six shots from the field in the overtime, but the YellowJackets could not extend the lead. LeTourneau would go up three late before the final events in the last minute of the game.

Richardson had 19 points with four rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Blaine registered his first career double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Jackson added 15 points with seven rebounds and three assists. Mayes totaled 14 points and Christian Adams had seven rebounds and four assists.

LeTourneau grabbed a nine-point lead in the first half after a 9-0 run was capped by a Mayes layup with 11:46 left. UMHB responded and outscored the YellowJackets 25-5 over the final 11 minutes of the half to take a 34-23 lead into the break. That margin grew to 12 in the early minutes of the second half.

Prince and Johnson had 23 points apiece to lead UMHB. The Cru hit just 2-of-22 from 3-point land, but made 15-of-19 from the free throw line and shot 42.6 percent (29-of-68) from the field.

LeTourneau hit 50 percent (30-of-60) from the field with 10 3-pointers.

UP NEXT

LeTourneau travels to Marshall next Saturday to face East Texas Baptist (3 p.m.).