RICHARDSON, Texas – Joe Neal scored 21 of the team's final 26 points and the Concordia Texas men's basketball team rallied from a 10-point second half deficit to defeat Louisiana College 86-84 on Thursday to advance to the American Southwest Conference Tournament semifinals.

The Tornados shot 36 percent from the field in the first half and trailed 36-34 at the midway point, led by Philip Meikle's 13 points, while Neal had only had one point.

In the second half, the Wildcats would take their biggest lead of the game at 59-49 with 11:49 to play.

Meikle would keep the Tornados within striking distance though, scoring 17 of his 30 points in the second half. He would finish 18-of-19 from the charity stripe, recording his second 30-point game of his career.

Trailing 68-60 with under eight minutes to go, CTX would begin to make their comeback.

The Tornados would go on an 11-2 run, capped by a Neal jumper to take their first lead of the half. Neal would score 21 of the team's next 23 points down the stretch to give CTX an 83-79 lead with under a minute to play.

Spencer Bone would hit a pair of free throws followed by Ronnie Hamilton's free throw to ice the game and the Tornados held on for the 86-84 win.

Neal finished the game with 25 points along with six rebounds, while Bone knocked down three treys on his way to 15 points for the night.

The Tornados advance to the tournament semifinals for the first time since 2016 and will face the winner of UT Dallas and McMurry on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Richardson, Texas at the UTD Activity Center.