LONGVIEW, Texas – East Texas Baptist University's Junior Mitchell's lay-up with 7.5 seconds left propelled the men's basketball team to a two-point victory over LeTourneau University, 56-54, for its 10th-straight win improving to 18-4 and 11-2 in the ASC East. This win also completes three straight wins in six days on the road starting with a win on Monday night over Louisiana College and Texas-Tyler on Thursday.
Jordan Quillian led all players with 16 points, converting eight-of-12 shots from the floor. He also paced ETBU with nine rebounds. Dylan Augustine contributed 11 points and three rebounds, while Mitchell chipped in seven points, seven rebounds and three assists. Wilbert Thomas had nine points and seven rebounds off the bench.
Trailing by a 54-52 margin with less than a minute remaining in regulation, ETBU tied the game up, 54-54, on a Quillian basket with 52 seconds on the game clock.
On LeTourneau's subsequent possession, Christian Seidl missed a 3-point shot, and after Thomas grabbed a defensive rebound, ETBU would call a timeout with 18 seconds left. Following that break in the action, Augustine missed a 3-point attempt, but Mitchell swooped in, grabbed an offensive rebound and converted the putback for what would turn out to be the game's decisive points.
In the early stages of the afternoon, ETBU moved ahead by double digits during the first half. With 14:25 in the half and the score 11-6 in favor of ETBU after two LeTourneau free throws, ETBU scored the game's next nine points to claim a 20-6 lead. During this 9-0 spurt, Thomas scored five points, while Juan Romero and Quillian chipped in two apiece. LeTourneau would go scoreless for over six minutes in this stretch, missing 12-straight shots from the field before Alec Colhoff scored at the 7:51 mark to make it a 20-8 game.
From that point forward, LeTourneau closed the first half on a 12-2 run to come within two points of ETBU at halftime, 22-20. During the opening half, ETBU shot 33.3 percent from the floor (nine-of-27) and 22.2 percent from 3-point distance (two-of-nine). In comparison, LeTourneau hit seven-of-36 shots from the field (19.4 percent) and two-of-11 3-point attempts (18.2 percent).
For the day, ETBU finished with a 49-to-38 edge in rebounding, while LeTourneau had more than twice as many assists as turnovers (13-to-6). Interestingly, ETBU attempted just four foul shots all afternoon, and LeTourneau went a perfect eight-of-eight on free throws.
For LeTourneau, Colhoff totaled 14 points and five rebounds, and Caleb Loggins finished with 10 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots. Jeff Martin added seven points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals.
ETBU plays its next game on Thursday, traveling to face the University of the Ozarks (Ark.) for a 7:30 p.m. matchup in Clarksville, Arkansas.
