ALPINE, Texas—With just over a minute to go in the game, East Texas Baptist University had a slim two-point lead, 69-67, but finished strong on an 8-2 run claiming their first-ever American Southwest Conference championship over Sul Ross State, 77-70. ETBU earns their 20^th win of the year, too, which is the most wins in the NCAA Division III era.

Justin Felicia led the team with 14 points, the third time he has led the team in scoring this season. Bret Atkins came off the bench to score 11 points, draining three three-pointers. Junior Mitchell also scored 11 and Jamil Samuel scored 10 while leading the team in rebounds with nine. Stephon Holland led all scorers with 22 points and Luke Taylor led them in rebounds with five.

ETBU never trailed in the game and started off on a 6-0 run fighting off every surge by Sul Ross State. SRSU got within three multiple times in the first half but each time they did ETBU had a quick answer. With ETBU up by just two at 22-20, they went on a 10-2 run to take their first double-digit lead of the game, capped off by an Atkins three. From there ETBU scored five straight points to take their largest lead of the half at 15 points. However SRSU closed the half on a 6-2 run to cut the lead to 11 at intermission, 41-30.

In the second half, ETBU scored the opening six points of the half to take their largest lead of the game at 17 points, 47-30. But from there SRSU chipped away, trailing by just nine at the 14:13 mark. ETBU quickly pushed the lead back up to double digits, but once again SRSU went on a run, pulling to within just five with 8:23 to go. Once again ETBU answered by pushing the lead back up to nine, but ultimately SRSU pulled within three with 3:38 to go. Eventually SRSU came within one at 66-65, but three straight free throws by Junior Mitchell gave ETBU some breathing room at 69-65. After a layup SRSU got within two points, but they could not get any closer as ETBU closed the game on an 8-2 run to seal the seven point win.

ETBU will be the #1 seed in the American Southwest Conference tournament hosting it from Thursday through Saturday. They will open up the tournament against #8 seed the University of the Ozarks at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. 

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