LONGVIEW – How's that for a return to action?
LeTourneau University men's basketball team responded from a two-week layoff in a big way against a gutty Belhaven team Thursday night, pulling out a come-from-behind 92-90 thrilling win at Solheim Arena.
LETU (4-1, 2-1 American Southwest Conference) hadn't played since beating McMurry on Jan. 9. But the YellowJackets found a way to scratch out a win in a game the Blazers (3-4, 2-3) controlled most of the way.
"Belhaven came ready to play," Jackets coach Dan Miller said. "I did sense that that team came in with a chip on their shoulder, ready for us. It was one of those games where we had to find a way."
The Blazers led by as many as 14 almost eight minutes into the first half, but the Jackets whittled the lead down to 28-25 when Demarcus Hester buried a 3-pointer at the 5:58 mark. John Argue scored in the paint, and then sank a pair of free throws to put the YellowJackets in front for the first time, 29-28, 50 seconds after Hester's triple.
Andrew Eberhardt canned one of his three triples to give the Jackets a three-point lead before the Blazers responded with buckets from Joseph Jones and Terrance Anderson – the latter a triple 3:14 before halftime – to allow Belhaven to regain control in a game that featured 21 lead changes and nine ties. After swapping leads a couple times the rest of the half, LETU's Deonte Jackson, who finished with 27 points and seven assists before fouling out, beat the first half buzzer with a triple to send the YellowJackets into the break up 39-37.
A see-saw second half watched leads change hands four times before the Jackets built an eight-point lead on Jordan Pride's jumper in the paint.
"We felt good … but no lead is safe in college basketball," Miller said. "I felt we got out of our element defensively. (We had) miscommunications which allowed them to get to the paint and hit some open threes."
Belhaven's Luke Couch scored 36 points, including 26 in the second half. He shot 10 of 15 from the floor and 12 of 13 from the free throw line.
"We had some trouble keeping Luke out of the paint in the second half," Miller said.
The Blazers trimmed the gap to one when Couch buried one of his four triples before Eberhardt canned one of his own to give LETU a 68-64 cushion at the 8:24 mark. Couched hit another 3 with 7:55 to go to push the Blazers back in front, and the lead swapping waged on. LETU and Belhaven traded leads eight times en route to an eight-point Blazers lead, following a pair of Korri Edwards free throws. But the YellowJackets erased the deficit when Argue dropped in a rainbow three, Jackson scored in transition, and Eberhardt drained a triple to tie it at 89-89 with 1:08 remaining.
"Andrew didn't have his best shooting game today, and he knows that," Miller said, "but he found a way to make a big shot at the end, a steal at the end, winning plays at the end."
After Couch split a pair from the stripe, Argue knocked down a jumper with 15 seconds left to put LeTourneau up one. Belhaven failed to convert on the other end, and Eberhardt grabbed an offensive rebound before splitting a pair of free throws to seal it.
Argue finished with 16 points, 11 boards, two blocks and a steal. It was Argue's fourth double-double in as many games this season. Eberhardt had 16 points, eight assists and two steals. Pride scored a season-high 13 points for the second straight game, grabbed five boards and had two steals. Kyle Matthews finished with eight points, seven rebounds, a block and a steal before fouling out. Edwards had 21 points and eight rebounds for the Blazers, who shot 49 percent from the floor, and went 9 of 19 from long distance.
The YellowJackets, who host Louisiana College at 3 p.m. Saturday, shot 57.6 percent in the second half, and finished 13 of 32 from 3-point range.
"After 19 days of not playing … we're happy to take the floor," Miller said. "Obviously, we wanted to win, but honestly we just wanted to play a 40-minute game. I'm not making excuses, but some of our rust did show tonight. But we found a way to win. It's a special win. We're happy to, A, play, and B, find a way to win a crazy game tonight."