TYLER, Texas – In its second and final game at the University of Texas-Tyler Christmas Classic, the No. 15-ranked East Texas Baptist University men's basketball team stumbled and lost to No. 25 Texas Lutheran University, 69-54, on Wednesday afternoon at the Herrington Patriot Center. ETBU goes to 8-2 overall, and Texas Lutheran improves to 8-3.

Coming off the bench, Wilbert Thomas paced ETBU with 16 points, 11 rebounds and two steals, his third double-double of the season. Also finishing in double figures were Bret Atkins and Junior Mitchell. Atkins contributed 13 points, three rebounds and two assists, while Mitchell chipped in 10 points and eight rebounds.

To begin the game, ETBU scored the first seven points to assume a 7-0 edge, which turned out to be its largest lead of the afternoon. Later on in the first half, ETBU went up by a 17-12 margin after Eric Horton connected on a 3-point shot with 10:54 until halftime. Texas Lutheran then strung together a 10-0 run over the subsequent four-plus minutes to grab a 22-17 advantage.

During this stretch, ETBU missed four-straight shots from the floor and turned the ball over six times. In comparison, Texas Lutheran converted just four-of-10 shot attempts from the field but only turned the ball over once to assume a 22-17 lead with six minutes until the break.

As the buzzer sounded for halftime, ETBU trailed Texas Lutheran by a 30-25 margin. ETBU had the advantage in rebounding during the first half, 24-to-21, but hit seven-of-27 shots from the floor (25.9 percent). Meanwhile, Texas Lutheran converted 34.3 percent of its first-half shot attempts (12-of-35). Texas Lutheran's reserves outscored their ETBU counterparts in the first half by a 21-to-7 margin.

During the second half, ETBU drew no closer than within five points of Texas Lutheran. ETBU had a 26.7 shooting percentage in the second half (8-of-30), while Texas Lutheran shot 46.4 percent from the field (13-of-28).

For the day, ETBU shot 15-of-57 from the floor (26.3 percent), and Texas Lutheran connected on 39.7 percent of its shots (25-of-63). Also Texas Lutheran converted 13-of-14 foul shots (92.9 percent). ETBU claimed a 50-to-40 rebounding edge.

For Texas Lutheran, Matthew Gillette had 14 points and six rebounds, and Sterling Holmes added 10 points and six rebounds.

ETBU plays next on Saturday afternoon against American Southwest Conference opponent, Concordia University-Texas, at 3:00 p.m. inside of Ornelas Gymnasium.