TYLER, Texas – The Concordia University Texas men's basketball team used a strong second half to defeat Texas-Tyler, 85-70, and extend its winning streak to four games on Thursday night at Herrington Patriot Center.
Josh Sanchez led the Tornados (7-5, 3-4 ASC) with a game-high 24 points, including 19 in the second half.
Andre Potts scored 14 of his 18 points in the final period, while
Rashad Coleman added 14 points.
Chris Rios netted 22 points to pace the Patriots (1-13, 0-9 ASC), which lost their 12th consecutive contest.
Texas-Tyler built a 24-15 lead after Anthony Gonzales Jr. knocked down a jumper with 4:30 remaining in the first half. However, Coleman then keyed a 16-6 run for CTX by scoring 10 points in the final four minutes to give the visitors a 31-30 advantage at the half.
The Tornados carried the momentum into the second half, scoring the first four points and pushing their lead to 35-30. The Patriots used a 5-2 spurt that included a 3-pointer from Levi Hidalgo to reclaim a 40-37 advantage with 17:31 left. After
Terry Corprew buried a triple, the two teams traded the lead before Potts hit a 3-pointer to put Concordia in front 48-47 with 12:01 to play.
Potts' triple started a 15-6 run that ended with a Sanchez bucket from downtown to extend CTX's lead to 60-51 with 8:54 remaining. Rios was able to trim the Tornados' advantage to six, but Concordia scored four straight points to take the lead into double digits. Potts hit a jumper with 2:55 left to increase the advantage to 79-63. Rios was able to cut the lead to 81-70, but CTX scored the final four tallies to keep the winning streak alive.
Concordia will return to action on Saturday at Ozarks. Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m. in Clarksville, Ark.
POSTGAME NOTES• Concordia's top four scorers on the season –
Andre Potts,
Josh Sanchez,
Rashad Coleman and
Donovan Ford – combined for only three points in the first 16 minutes of the game. However, the foursome was able to pick up 16 points in the final four minutes of the opening half, mainly thanks to Coleman's 10 points.
• In addition to Coleman's 14 points, the sophomore guard dished out seven assists, grabbed five rebounds, and posted three steals and one block.
• The Tornados shot 50 percent in Thursday's game, marking the fifth time this season the squad has shot 50 percent or better.
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Brett DeMetrotion scored nine points, grabbed two rebounds and blocked one shot in his first action since Dec. 13, 2014.
