LONGVIEW, Texas -- The LeTourneau men's basketball team shot 57 percent from the field in the second half and coasted past Southwestern, 80-60, in non-conference action on Saturday inside Solheim Arena.
LeTourneau (2-0) has won its first two games of the season for a fourth straight year.
Jackson Mayes had 20 points and three steals to lead four YellowJackets in double-figure scoring.
Deonte Jackson added 17 points with five assists and four steals as he cross over 1,300 career points in the process.
Walker Blaine had 15 points with six rebounds and
Christian Adams added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
LeTourneau never trailed in the contest as a Mayes jumper got the scoring going early on. The YellowJackets shot just 41 percent in the first half, but took a 36-29 lead at the break after holding the visiting Pirates to only 28 percent shooting from the field.
Southwestern cut the LeTourneau lead to just four on the first possession of the second half, but the YellowJackets answered with a 16-0 run over the next five minutes to break open the game. Mayes finished the spurt by scoring seven straight points over three consecutive possessions to give the YellowJackets their largest lead of the game to that point at 52-32 with 14:20 left.
The margin never dipped below double-digits the rest of the way as LeTourneau's hot shooting over the final 20 minutes proved too much for Southwestern (0-2) to overcome.
Logan Brinkoeter added six points and five rebounds off the bench for the YellowJackets.Â
LeTourneau connected on 49.2 percent (29-of-59) for the game and went 17-of-24 from the free throw line.
The Pirates got 15 points from Brock Luechtefeld and 13 points from Sebastian Loder. Southwestern was limited to 33.3 percent shooting (19-of-57) from the field and just 5-of-24 from deep.
UP NEXT
LeTourneau travels to face McNeese State in an exhibition on Tuesday in Lake Charles (7 p.m.).
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