Tiger Basketball vs. LeTourneau

BASKETBALL (W): MARSHALL, Texas (1/17/13) – Senior’s Mary Slaughter and Brandace Latin took matters into their own hands in the second half propelling East Texas Baptist University over LeTourneau University (6-10/3-7), 63-55. Both players finished with double-doubles shooting 50 percent from the floor scoring over half of ETBU’s points as the Tigers improved to 11-6 and 6-5 in the American Southwest Conference East Division.

"In a rivalry game you know it’s going to be emotional and we had different players play well at different times – Mary gave us some big buckets under the basket and our guards Jaimie and April made plays and Brandace got to the rim – It was a big game for us and a big win,” says head coach Dustin Howard. "It was a hard fought game and in the end we had more buckets than them and that was the difference.”

Latin finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds and Slaughter followed with 16 points and 11 rebounds for ETBU. Jaimie Kadlecek added 14 points and went 9-of-12 from the foul line hitting ETBU’s only three-pointer in the game. LeTourneau was led by Jessica Manas’ 19 points.

With 12:19 left in the game, LeTourneau pulled within four, 35-31, after being down 13 at the beginning of the half. ETBU responded with a 17-5 run over five minutes to extend their lead to 16, 52-36. Five different players contributed in the run as Slaughter had six points in that time. Adaeze Elonu, Amanda Rucker, Jaimie Kadlecek and Latin all helped in scoring as ETBU took control of the end of the game.

LeTourneau made a game of it the final seven minutes as they went on an 18-7 run pulling to within five points, 59-54, with 53 seconds left in the game. ETBU would make 4-of-8 free throws in that time to seal the win.

The first half featured four lead changes and LeTourneau with a two-point lead once in the game. Both teams struggles finding the basket starting the game as it was 4-4 with 13:15 left to play in the half. Kadlecek broke the 4-4 tie with ETBU’s only three-pointer of the game at the 12:14 mark. ETBU held onto the lead until LeTourneau’s Manas hit a jumper with 6:07 to play in the half for a one-point advantage, 13-12. That was the last lead of the game for LeTourneau as ETBU finished on a 10-2 run for a seven-point lead at the half, 22-15.

Both teams struggled shooting, especially in the first half, as ETBU shot just 25 percent in that half and finished at 32 percent on the game. They only hit 6 percent of their three-pointers but mad 74 percent of their free throws. LeTourneau shot just 27 percent and made 21 percent in the first half. They finished at 20 percent overall from the three-point line and 60 percent at the foul line. They took in 51 rebounds to ETBU’s 42 rebounds and lost the ball 30 times to ETBU’s 21 turnovers.

ETBU will be back in action in a week as they face Mississippi College on Thursday, January 24th, at 5:30 p.m.

Free Throws Make the Difference as LETU Holds Off ETBU

BASKETBALL (M): MARSHALL, Texas (1/17/13) – It came down to free throws as the difference in the game for East Texas Baptist University shooting only 57 percent missing eight overall as they fell to LeTourneau University (7-9/6-4), 64-58. LeTourneau missed just two free throws (86 percernt) and ETBU went only 11-of-19 in the loss as they fell to 7-10 and 3-8 in the ASC East.

Kerry McClahan and Jaron Joseph each posted 11 points for ETBU and Junior Mitchell added 10 points. Justin Felicia, who was Bert West’s "Player of the Game”, grabbed nine rebounds to lead the team. Cristin Driver hit five three-pointers for LeTourneau to finish with 20 points and lead all scorers.

With just over seven minutes to play, ETBU held a four-point lead, 53-49, but would not make any baskets for almost three minutes as LeTourneau crept back into the lead, 54-53, with 5:31 to play. Joseph broke ETBU’s silence in scoring over that three minute span at the 3:41 mark to pull ETBU within one, 56-55, but LeTourneau went on a 7-1 run in two and half minutes for a seven-point lead, 63-56. LeTourneau would hold off ETBU for the six-point win, 64-58.

In the first half, ETBU was within two, 15-13, when LeTourneau went on a 12-0 run for a 14-point lead, 27-13. ETBU brought the lead back down to six, 27-21, but LeTourneau finished on a 6-2 run for a 10-point lead at the half, 33-23.

ETBU came away making 38 percent of their shots from the floor, 33 percent from the arc, and 57 percent from the foul line. LeTourneau finished making 38 percent from the floor, 42 percent from the three-point line, and 86 percent from the stripe. Both teams fought the rebounding battle as ETBU finished with 37 to LeTourneau’s 32.

ETBU will be back in action in a week on Thursday, January 24th, against Mississippi College at 7:30 p.m. in Ornelas Gym.