HOUSTON, Texas -- In a battle of SCAC division champions, the LeTourneau men's basketball team fell to No. 4-ranked St. Thomas, 75-64, on Friday night inside Jerabeck Activity and Athletic Center.

LeTourneau (17-7, 12-3 SCAC) fell for just the second time in the last 12 games. St. Thomas (23-1, 15-0 SCAC) is ranked No. 4 in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 and received three No. 1 votes this week.

Branson Lynn returned to the lineup to lead the way with 11 points and six rebounds. Teigan Edwards added 10 points, seven assists, and six rebounds while Noah Stull had a season-high 10 points.

LeTourneau's defense was stout early on holding St. Thomas to seven points in the first eight-plus minutes of the game. The YellowJackets built a 15-7 lead during that span as Edwards hit two 3-pointers and had eight of the first 15 for LeTourneau.

St. Thomas took a 28-26 lead on a tip-in from Charles Gitonga with 4:09 left in the first half and held a 38-30 lead entering the break.

LeTourneau hung around early in the second half as a Lynn 3-pointer made it an eight-point game (46-38) with 13:41 left. St. Thomas rattled off seven straight points over the next minute to stretch the margin to 15 (53-38) and the host Celts held a double-digit lead the rest of the night.

Corey Thompson had 15 points to lead St. Thomas, while Gitonga had seven points with 13 rebounds. The Celts had 44 points in the paint and shot 46.7 percent (28-of-60) from the field. Angel Johnson added 11 points while Nathan Kongolo and Luke Coughran had 10 points each.

LeTourneau shot 36.8 percent (21-of-57) from the floor with 11 3-pointers. It was the 14th game with 10-plus made 3-pointers this season.

UP NEXT

LeTourneau travels to Colorado College for the regular season finale on Sunday (1 p.m. central).

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