MARSHALL, Texas – Opening the second half scoring the first 12 points for a 20-point lead, East Texas Baptist University didn't look back as they won their 17^th game of the year, 81-67, over Sul Ross State University. ETBU is now 17-5 on the year and 11-4 in the American Southwest Conference.
 
"In the second half we locked down defensively and I am really proud of our guys for the win," said head coach Chris Lovell. "It was our 17^th win on the season and that's a huge accomplishment when you only play 25 regular season games."
 
Darry Moore continued to lead ETBU with his sixth double-double of the year and first time to have them in back-to-back games. He finished with 28 points and 13 rebounds shooting 11-of-19 from the floor. Kevin Charles was a rebound shy of a double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds recording two blocks. Ryan Elzy followed with 16 points and eight rebounds while Aaron Gregg had a double-double and was two rebounds shy of a triple-double posting 11 points, 13 assists, and eight rebounds. Caelyb Kerley led SRSU with 18 points.
 
ETBU shot 47 percent while SRSU finished at 45 percent. Both teams didn't shoot great beyond the arc as the Lobos made 25 percent and ETBU finished at 35 percent. ETBU did go 20-of-27 from the stripe (74 percent) while SRSU made just 57 percent. ETBU dominated the boards, 47-25, and forced 16 turnovers.
 
There were two ties in the first three minutes of the game as the final tie was 6-6 at 17:22. Over the next four minutes, ETBU went on a 10-2 run for an eight-point lead as Moore finished it off on a fast break layup. SRSU cut the lead to four, 18-14, at 12:06 and had the lead down to two, 20-18, with 8:32 to go. A jumper by Moore and three-pointer from Martin McDowell put the lead at seven, 25-18 (7:45), but SRSU wouldn't go away. The Lobos had the lead down to three twice in the next three minutes with the last at 4:29, 32-29. In just two minutes, ETBU answered on an 8-0 run for an 11-point lead, 40-29, as Charles had six of the 11 points. SRSU hit a bucket with two seconds left to trim the lead to eight, 46-38, at the half.
 
ETBU opened the second half scoring the first 12-points as Charles, Moore, Gregg, and Elzy all had buckets. With 16:38 left to play, ETBU moved their lead to 20, 58-38, with that run. The lead never went into single digits again the rest of the game. Elzy hit a three-pointer at 13:08 for a 21-point lead as that was the largest of the game for ETBU. With 7:10 left, Moore kept the lead at 19, 72-53, and then Elzy made it an 18-point lead on a fast break layup with 2:55 left, 81-63. That was the last bucket made by ETBU as SRSU only scored four more points for the 81-67 final.
 
On Saturday, ETBU will host Howard Payne University for Senior Day at 3:00 p.m. in the final home game of the year.