MARSHALL, Texas – In their home debut for the 2019-20 season, the East Texas Baptist University men's basketball team controlled the game for an 81-68 win over Hendrix College. ETBU's largest lead was 25 in the first half shot 58% from the three-point line. They are now 4-1 on the year and won three straight games.
 
Jaden Conner led the way with 13 points while Robby Dooley added 12 points and two blocks. Jordan Gray and Jayden Williams had nine points each while Landin Brown finished with five assists and Spencer Cochran added two blocked shots. For Hendrix, Sean Coman and Seth Stanley both had 20-point performances with 24 and 20 points respectively.
 
ETBU finished outshooting the Warriors in all three phases in field goal percentage (46.8%-34.9%), three-point percentage (54.5%-26.9%), and free throw percentage (78.6%-65.4%). ETBU won the points off turnovers (25-11) and points in the paint (32-28), too, while out rebounding the Warriors, 48-35. 
 
Down 3-2 early in the first half, ETBU ran off 16 straight points (18:32-14:05), including nine from Gray (18:32, 16:29, 15:41) for an 18-3 lead. Four straight points by the Warriors would be followed by an 18-4 run (12:09-7:28) for the Tigers. Conner would key the run with eight points (11:43, 10:19, 8:19) as ETBU would lead, 36-11, at the 7:28 mark for their largest lead on a Brown layup. Hendrix would chip away at the lead and trail, 39-24, at halftime following a 13-3 run.
 
The teams would trade baskets to begin the second half until ETBU would push the margin to 23 (57-34; 11:40). For much of the next six minutes, the Tigers would keep their twenty-point lead as the score went to 68-47 (5:43) after a Colton Collins three. Hendrix had another run scoring 11 of the next 15 points (4:17-2:44) before Jacob Bush (2:28) and Tevin Baker (2:03) brought back an 18-point lead (76-58). The Warriors would end the game on a 10-5 run cutting the lead down to 13, 81-68.
 
The Tigers will have a home game on December 9^th, at 7:30 PM against Centenary College.