Pats hold fourth in division after win

A much needed 71-66 victory over LeTourneau on Saturday moves the University’s men’s basketball team into fourth place in the American Southwest Conference East Division. The Patriots’ win comes after a 67-52 defeat by East Texas Baptist on Thursday.

Thursday

The Tigers took control early, taking a 17-9 lead with 9:39 left in the first half. Josh Chambers and Deba Egharevba led the way with a combined 11 points.The Patriots cut their lead to two at halftime and ended the first half with a 12-4 run.

Hakeem Kareem capped off the half by making three point shots on the Patriots final two possession.

Things fell apart in the second half. The Patriots did not score a point for the first six minutes of the second half, allowing ETBU to extend their lead to 11. Their first field goal came with 8:42 left in the game. LeTourneau led 48-32 at that point, making a comeback improbable.

The Patriots bench put together a 10-0 run near the end of the game. The Tigers milked the clock in the final two minutes to clinch the victory. James Morman led all players with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Kareem led the Patriots with 10 points.

“You can look at the box score and tell where are problems are,” coach Kenny Bizot said. “Our point guards were 0-9 for the game and you’re not going to win if you can’t put the ball in the hole.”

Saturday

The Patriots wasted no time Saturday against LeTourneau, taking the lead from the start and holding it until Marcel Louimeus’ layup tied the game at 14 with 11:58 left in the opening half.

After a two minute scoring drought by both teams, the Patriots started a 9-0 run capped off by a three point shot by Dexter McMarion. The Yellow Jackets, however, chipped away at the Patriots lead and took a 29-28 lead at halftime.

The Patriots retook the lead on a three point by Kareem in the first minute of the second half, and held it until the 14:52 mark. The lead see-sawed from there, with the game being tied six different times in the final 11 minutes.

The Patriots gained the lead for good on a three point shot by Neal Welch with 3:58 remaining. Kareem closed the game out by making four free throws in the final seven seconds of the game. He led all players with 21 points. Teammate Josh Twine followed with 14 points. Jourdan Hughes led the Yellow Jackets with 18 points.

The Patriots are scheduled to play their final four regular season games at home, beginning with The University of Texas at Dallas at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.