LONGVIEW, Texas -- The LeTourneau men's basketball team breaks past Mary Hardin-Baylor in an overtime thriller, taking a 93-92 win at home on Saturday evening.
The high-scoring game saw 23 three lead changes with eight separate tied scores.
LeTourneau (12-8, 7-5 ASC) had the advantage by three, 65-62, with 9:43 remaining in regulation. Mary Hardin-Baylor (9-9, 5-6) answered with a layup to make it 65-64.
Christian Adams added yet another dunk to his resume after a Jackson Mayes jumper bounced off the rim
At the under-four media timeout, LeTourneau found themselves down 78-72 with 3:44 showing on the clock. A 9-7 scoring run for the YellowJackets left them just four points behind (85-81) with a minute to play in the second period.Â
Teigan Edwards drew a foul on the drive in toward the hoop and answered the bell sinking both of his free throws to make it a two-point game with less than 45 seconds remaining.Â
Josiah Johnson, the top scorer for the Cru, missed a jumper on the next possession to allow Alex Ferrell to secure the rebound and give the YellowJackets the ball.
LeTourneau would turn the ball over forcing Mayes to foul sending Johnson to the line with a one-and-one opportunity for the Cru. Johnson missed the shot and Mayes got fouled after securing the board for the YellowJackets.
Mayes now had two shots from the charity stripe with the scoreboard showing 85-83 Mary Hardin-Baylor ahead. After a couple of dribbles Mayes sank the first shot, and right as he is about to take the second shot the Cru head coach, Clif Carroll calls a timeout.
Mayes came back to the line after the 30-second timeout and drained the shot to knot it up at 85 sending the game to an extra period.Â
Mary Hardin-Baylor found the first points of overtime with a layup from Eli Beard.
Jackson Mayes responded with a dagger from beyond the arc to give LeTourneau a one-point lead (88-87).Â
Caedmon Liebengood later secured a rebound and got fouled, sending him to the line for a pair of shots which he made both.Â
Eli Beard would drive in for the Cru and put up a layup that Liebengood sent off the backboard.Â
Mayes found the board and sent it up the court. The YellowJackets settled into an offense before Edwards assisted Mayes on another trey to take a six-point lead in the extra period.
The Cru responded right away with a 3-point bucket from Johnson and followed it with a layup from Beard cutting the deficit to just one at 93-92.Â
The Cru would find a couple of shots that LeTourneau defended well enough to see them miss the mark. The clock hit zero after Johnson threw up one final shot that missed, giving the YellowJackets their first win over Mary Hardin-Baylor in six meetings.
The game started with back-and-forth blows with each team not trying to give any ground. Liebengood and Walker Blaine started with 17 points between each other as they trailed 22-21 at 12:31 in the first half.
The YellowJackets went on a 12-3 run near the end of the first half with a pair of threes from Branson Lynn to bring the game back to 44-40 with a Crusader lead at the break.Â
LeTourneau came out firing in the second half. Blaine made a 3-pointer and Ferrell scored a layup to set the tone.
Liebengood marked a double-double with 26 points and 12 rebounds.
Mayes went 2-for-2 from 3-point land in overtime to make his way to 22 points on the day.
Blaine nailed three treys and scored 17 points to pair with his six boards.
Adams tallied 11 points, four rebounds, and four assists.
UP NEXT
LeTourneau hosts Highway-80 Rival East Texas Baptist on Thursday (7:30Â p.m.).
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