BOX SCORE
Austin, Texas – Darien Harris registered his second consecutive double-double, but the Concordia University Texas men's basketball team fell by a 101-95 decision against East Texas Baptist in the American Southwest Conference opener for both schools on Saturday afternoon at Ornelas Gymnasium. The Tornados slashed a 17-point deficit in the second half all the way down to a single point late in regulation before the Tigers recovered and sank some late free throws to escape with the win.
East Texas Baptist (3-0, ASC 1-0), which never trailed in the contest, jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the opening minutes by taking advantage of several Concordia fouls. Deba Egharevba, Josh Chambers and Jeremy Garde all sunk a pair of free throws during the stretch.
Concordia (1-2, ASC 0-1) fought back and tied the game up on three occasions in the opening five minutes. However the Tigers were able to shake off every rally. A layup by Jacob Turnipseed that beat the buzzer gave the Tigers a 50-42 advantage at recess.
East Texas Baptist built up a 17-point lead and appeared to be in full control with a 69-52 advantage when Jeremy LaGarde made a fastbreak layup with 14:18 remaining, but Concordia did not go away quietly and scored 11 of the next 12 points. Adrian Ubaru converted a conventional three-point play to cut the Tiger lead to single digits as the teams approached the midway point of the second half.
With time winding down, the Tornados cut the Tiger advantage to one point on a Larry Durand jumper with 5:08 left and four points on two occasions on Darius Anderson and Justin Reefer field goals in the last two minutes. However, LaGarde, Egharebva and Turnipseed all made clutch free throws to seal the victory for the Tigers before the final whistle sounded.
Harris paced Concordia by registering 17 points and 12 rebounds. Both marks were team bests. Nick Haynes and Durand contributed 16 points apiece off the bench. East Texas Baptist was paced by Egharevba and Chambers. Egharevba finished with 29 points and 17 rebounds, while Chambers contributed 22 points and 16 boards. LaGarde added 21 points.
Concordia continues ASC play when UT-Tyler visits the Concordia Field House on Thursday, Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m.
