LONGVIEW, Texas-- The LeTourneau men's basketball team lost, 102-98, in overtime on Thursday night to UT Dallas, despite shooting 70.4 percent from the field in the first half.

LeTourneau (15-9, 9-6 ASC) took a strong 11-2 lead to start the first period, going 5-for-5 in that time. The YellowJackets did not miss a shot until four minutes had already run off the clock. 

UT Dallas (16-8, 12-3 ASC) found some footing and grabbed a 17-16 lead at with 10:48 to go.

 LeTourneau took it right back to go on a 16-7 march as Branson Lynn scored eight of his 14 points in that span.

LeTourneau controlled the game going into the locker room, finishing it off with a last second inbounds play that saw Walker Blaine throw the ball to just past half court, where Christian Adams came back to grab the pass. Adams, then shoved it to Jackson Mayes as he drained a triple to take a 45-31 lead into the break.

LeTourneau went 7-of-11 from 3-point land in the first period. 

LeTourneau continued to build the lead they took into the break, gaining a 28-point advantage over the visiting Comets with 7:29 left in the game. The scoreboard showed 79-51 before UT Dallas went on a 39-11 run to finish regulation.

The Comets went 9-of-16 from beyond the arc in that 7:29 stretch. 

Nick Donnelly did not score until there was just over a minute remaining in regulation. He scored 11 points to finish out regulation and ended up as the Comets lead scorer with 20. 

UT Dallas scored six points in the last six seconds of the game to make a tie at 90-90. Donnelly made a three pointer from well beyond the three-point line, the comets fouled quick, got the ball back for Matthew Soto to hit a three as time expired to start a new period.

The first basket of overtime came in the sixth possession as UT Dallas hit another 3-pointer.

Logan Brinkoeter followed that with a layup after a nice pass from Adams to keep it to a one point game, 93-92. 

The Jackets and Comets exchanged blows as Donnelly hit a jumper for the visitors and Mayes hit a turnaround jumper for the hosts.

UT Dallas pushed to a four point lead when Donnelly hit a pull-up shot from beyond the right elbow to make it 98-94 with just over a minute to play.

Brinkoeter drained a pair of free throws to bring the deficit to two, but Donnelly did the same on the other side of the court scoring his 20th point making it 100-96 with just over 30 seconds to play.

Mayes drove in for a layup and chopped the deficit to three with 11 seconds to go but that would be the closest they would come to regaining the lead as the Comets made a game icing free throw. 

UT Dallas out-rebounded LeTourneau 45-32 with 21 offensive rebounds for the Comets.

Both teams made 13 treys on the night, which ties a season-high for the YellowJackets.

The 55.7 percent from the field is a season-high for LeTourneau. The YellowJackets are now 2-1 in overtime games.

UP NEXT

LeTourneau will honor its seniors, Christian Adams, Isaac Stolzenburg, and Walker Blaine, before taking on Ozarks in the regular season finale on Saturday (3 p.m.).

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