BOX SCORE

Austin, Texas – Tayler Jacobs scored 33 points, matching a career high, and led four Tornados in double figures as the Concordia University Texas men's basketball team held on to post a 113-108 victory over Hardin-Simmons on Saturday, Jan. 22 at the Concordia Field House. The Tornados kept their fourth-place position in the West Division standings by eclipsing the 100-point mark for the fifth time in six games.

In a game which featured all four of its ties and lead changes in the opening seven minutes of play, Concordia trailed by a 13-7 score before going ahead for good when Donald Lee ran in for a layup to give the hosts a 17-15 advantage. Connor Davenport gave the Tornados their first double-digit lead at 31-21 by sinking two free throws before the Tornado advantage ballooned to as many as 16 in the frame. Kenny Williams drained two 3-pointers in a row to make it 47-31 with 3:36 left. The Cowboys brought it down to four in the final minute, but Larry Durand made two free throws and Lee canned a jumper to create a 51-43 score at the break.

The Tornados were challenged throughout the second half by the Cowboys, but they never surrendered the lead they gained at the 13:07 mark of the opening period. A 3-pointer by John Derr cut the Concordia lead down to one at 78-77 just before the midway point of the frame. However, Darius Anderson sank a shot from the charity stripe and Jacobs drained a trey to end that attempted rally by the Cowboys. Hardin-Simmons kept the score to within five for the rest of the game and cut the margin down to two on three occasions in the last two minutes. However, Chris McDermott and Jacobs made multiple free throws down the stretch to keep the visitors at bay.

In addition to netting a career high for points, Jacobs also contributed three rebounds and two assists to pace Concordia. McDermott also matched his personal best for scoring with 18 points while also setting a career high with three blocked shots. Williams added a season-best 15 points on perfect shooting, making all three of his shot attempts from the field as well as his six tries from the line. Lee and Anderson finished with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Matt Addison led Hardin-Simmons (9-7, ASC 8-4) with 34 points, six assists and five steals. Joe Richards just missed a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds, while John Derr had 14 points.

Concordia (10-7, ASC 8-5) will look to win its fifth straight road game when it visits Sul Ross State on Thursday, Jan. 27 at 7:30 p.m.