PINEVILLE, Louisiana – Picking up a key win to keep their hopes of winning the ASC East alive, the East Texas Baptist University men's basketball team defeated Louisiana College 97-83 on the road. As of now, ETBU is still in second place in the ASC East with a 19-4 record overall and a 13-3 conference record.
Jordan Gosey led the way for ETBU as he was one rebound shy of a double-double while collecting 18 points on eight-of-12 shooting.
Robby Dooley picked up 16 points and a team-leading five assists.
Westin Riddick made five three-pointers for 15 points while
Darrice Whitley had 12 points. Devon Washington (30 points, 17 rebounds) and Lashard Powell (21 points) combined for 51 points in all to lead the Wildcats.
Collectively, ETBU barely outshot LC 48.6%-47.8% from the field and 76.5%-75% from the free-throw line. They collected 48 points in the paint while holding LC to 46. In addition, ETBU would score 15 points off turnovers and outscore LC's bench 31-18.
Gosey started the game with a layup (19:43), which would lead to a 14-2 run (18:49-15:05) to lead 16-2 in which ETBU would not give up an LC field goal. Whitley picked up six points during the run (18:32, 15:50, 15:05). LC finally made their first field goal at 14:52 to trail 16-4. This would lead to a Wildcats' 10-2 run as they trailed by four at 18-14 (12:13). ETBU would get the lead back to nine points at 25-16 (10:17) only for LC to cut it down to 35-32 (5:56). ETBU would then get free throws by Gosey (5:28) two three's in a row by
Davis Robinson (4:41, 4:21) to lead 43-36. Additional threes by
Nathan Fontenot (3:32) and Riddick (2:53) would help ETBU to a 49-38 lead. The lead would be nine points at 51-42 in ETBU's favor going into halftime.
Early in the second half, Dooley would trade baskets with LC by scoring six of nine points to lead 60-49 (17:24). LC would soon make a run of 14-6 (17:16-13:11) to cut the lead to 66-63. In urgent need of a lift, ETBU would turn to
Jarrell Taylor, who came off the bench to score eight of ETBU's next eleven points (11:51-8:24) as he would help guide ETBU to a 77-70 lead. This would be the turning point of the game as ETBU would reach a double-digit after a Gosey layup. LC would last break single digits at 81-72 (6:13) and 83-74 (4:14) before a three by Riddick (4:00) gave ETBU the double-digit lead for good at 86-74. In the end, ETBU would finish the game with a 97-83 victory.
ETBU will return home for a big showdown against LeTourneau this Monday at 7:30 PM at Ornelas.
