BOX SCORE ABILENE, Texas – The Concordia Men's basketball rallied from 22 points down in the second half, but came up short, losing 104-101 against Hardin-Simmons Thursday night.

Ephriam Price finished with a career-high 34 points, including six three-pointers, to lead the Tornados (17-7, 11-4). Joe Neal finished with his sixth double-double of the season scoring 32 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. CTX struggled on the boards though as they were out-rebounded by the Cowboys (18-6, 12-3) 53-35.

The Tornados struggled from the field in the first half, shooting 12-35 from the floor as they scored 36 points. HSU, meanwhile, shot 50 percent from the field, scoring 55 points. Price led CTX with 15 points at the half, including eight points from the free-throw line. The Tornados outscored the Cowboys in points off turnovers 18-11, but only produced 11 points off the bench.

The second half was a different story as CTX outscored HSU 65-49 including going 11-22 in the half. Neal scored 23 of his 30 points in the second half as well, as the Tornados trailed by 22 with 16:01 left. The Tornados would proceed to go on a 37-15 run tying it up at 89 all after a Neal three-pointer with 5:57 remaining. CTX would take its largest lead at 101-96 with 2:18 left after another Neal three. After a Cowboys layup cut the lead to three, Neal would foul out of the game on a technical foul after an HSU foul on the ensuing inbounds pass. HSU knocked the two technical free-throws to make it a one point game. Payton Barnes went to the line and was able to connect and keeping the score at 101-100 with 2:04 left. The Tornados were unable to connect on the ensuing possession, while the Cowboys knocked down four free-throws to close out the game 104-101.

The loss ends CTX's seven-game winning streak and locks them into the second spot in the ASC West division. The Tornados will close out the season against McMurry on Saturday at 3 p.m. before the ASC tournament which begins on Feb. 23.