MARSHALL, Texas – Down by as many as twelve points in the first half, the East Texas Baptist University men's basketball team turned around their fortunes as they rallied and outplayed the Hendrix College for the remainder of the game to win 91-78. ETBU enters their Christmas break with a three-game winning streak and a record of 6-2.

Three players for ETBU reached double-digits including Robby Dooley, who finished with 23 points. Jordan Gosey collected 16 points and seven rebounds along with Gavin Sabo, while Landin Brown tallied 12 points and was the top assist-maker for ETBU with four. For HU, Jacob Link tallied a double-double with 23 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Warriors. Trey Rouse had 12 points while Kam Brasfield (seven assists), Marcis Hall, and Preston Smith each had 10 points.

ETBU won two of three shooting categories in field goal percentage (56.3%-41.1%) and three-point percentage (53.3%-26.3%). Although HC won the free-throw percentage (56.5%-55.0%) category, ETBU outrebounded HC 45-35, won the bench points battle (27-16), and points in the paint (50-38) category.   

HC raced out to a 6-0 lead before ETBU got their first basket by Dooley (17:45). But HU still took control as they took a 10-4 lead at 16:22. Although ETBU cut the lead to 10-9 on a three by Westin Riddick at 14:36, HC answered with a 12-4 run for the next minute to lead 22-13. ETBU responded with a 9-2 run (11:24-9:24), which came from a layup by Sabo (11:24), a three by Davis Robinson (11:04), and four points by Gosey (10:06-9:24) to trail 24-22. This was when both teams would put together two giant runs. At first, the Warriors would take full control of the game by putting together a 21-11 run (8:57-3:46) to lead 45-33. But ETBU responded by going on a 14-2 run (3:31-0:33) to tie the game at 47 on a three by Sabo. However, HC would finish the quarter with four straight points by Hall (0:19, 0:00) to grab a 51-47 lead at halftime.

ETBU came out of the gates in the second half with nine straight points as Darrice Whitley (19:47, 17:19) tallied four points while Dooley (17:58) and Riddick (16:59) to put ETBU up 56-51. HC answered with seven straight points (16:00-15:12) to grab their final lead on the game at 58-56. The score was tied at 60 with 13:29 to play before free throws by Gosey (13:04) gave ETBU a 62-60 lead they would never relinquish. The closest HC would get to was 67-64 at 9:47 before ETBU put together a 13-0 run (9:17-5:56) that proved to be the difference. In the run, Dooley tallied five points (8:52, 7:56) while Alan Wilkinson (9:17, 5:56) and Brown (7:18) added three points each. ETBU then raced out to their largest lead at 89-70 (1:55) thanks to a layup by Richard Johnson. HC would finish the game with an 8-2 run to make the final score 91-78.

ETBU won't be back in action until December 29^th when they travel to Kerrville, Texas to take on Schreiner at 4:00 PM.