BELTON, Texas -- LeTourneau men's hoops was unable to upend No. 25 Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton on Saturday afternoon, falling by a score of 94-71.

The matchup was the second time the YellowJackets have played a ranked opponent, with both also having been played at the Mayborn Campus Center.

Caedmon Liebengood led LeTourneau scoring with 17 points, while also snatching nine boards, six of which were offensive rebounds. Deonte Jackson and Walker Blaine added 10 points apiece also. 

After going down by as many as 14 in the first half, LeTourneau used an initial 13-2 run to close the gap to three with a little over seven minutes remaining in the half. Jackson Mayes scored the first six points of the run to help jump-start the offense. 

The YellowJackets then fell behind by seven with eight seconds left in the half, but a Cooper Smith 4-point play got LeTourneau back to within three at the half.

The YellowJackets continued hanging around early in the second half, but it was all Cru from the 16:52 mark on, as UMHB outscored LeTourneau by 18 the rest of the way. 

Eli Beard had a game-high 34 points for the Cru, with Josh Goings adding 21. Ryan Pondant added nine rebounds and a pair of blocks as well.

UP NEXT

Solheim Arena will be rocking on Thursday as rival ETBU will come to town. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.

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