BELTON, Texas – Andrew Eberhardt's corner three and several defensive stops in the waning moments preserved a victory for No. 2 LETU in the 2022 American Southwest Conference Men's Basketball Championship semifinals Friday.
 
The YellowJackets improved to 21-4 with the 70-61 triumph over No. 3 Hardin-Simmons and reached the championship game for the third time - second in three seasons. They defeated ETBU 82-79 in Alpine, Texas, to claim the 2020 title, the first ASC championship in program history.
 
The Cowboys concluded the campaign with a mark of 17-8, including 12-6 in league action.
 
Entering the final 20 minutes with a three-point margin, an 11-4 LETU run in the first five minutes forced a timeout by Hardin-Simmons.
 
The cushion remained between nine and 11 points until Kyle Matthews drove the lane and found Warren Richardson for a two-handed dunk with 10:21 to go.
 
Richardson and Matthews, important pieces to the YellowJackets interior defense, picked up their third and fourth fouls in short order. Matthews went to the bench at the 9:34 mark and Richardson followed two minutes later.
 
Hardin-Simmons trailed by 11 when Richardson departed, the advantage was down to five at 59-54 with Matthews waiting at the scorer's table with 5:57 remaining. Immediately upon returning to the floor, Richardson found a wide-open Matthews, who buried a three and extended the gap to 64-55 with 4:40 showing on the clock.
 
A Kyle Brennon hook shot at the 2:30 mark made it a one-possession game. On the following trip up the floor, Eberhardt knocked down a triple, giving the YellowJackets room to exhale. After a defensive rebound, followed by a steal, Deonte Jackson drew a foul and converted both at the charity stripe, opening the game to 69-61, with 53 seconds left.
 
Richardson and Matthews iced the victory with defensive rebounds on the subsequent possessions. They each drew a foul and sank 1 of 2 at the line.
 
Jackson led all scorers with 20 points, corralling seven boards and handing out two helpers. Eberhardt was 4 of 6 from three-points range and finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and a pair of blocks.
 
Christian Adams chipped in 12 points, secured eight-missed attempts and dished out four assists. Matthews backed up his player of the game performance in the quarterfinals with 10 points, three assists, two steals and drawing four key fouls on the opposition. Richardson tallied six points, six boards and rejected three attempts.
 
LETU faces regular-season champion and host, No. 1 UMHB at 6 p.m. Saturday. The Crusaders defeated No. 4 UT Dallas 90-73 in the second semifinal./25/mens-basketball-championship-bound.aspx