ALPINE, Texas - Philip Meikle scored a game-high 24 points and the Concordia Texas men's basketball team rallied from a 13-point first half deficit, but suffered a heartbreaking 80-76 loss in the final seconds to East Texas Baptist on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the American Southwest Conference Tournament.
Meikle shot 50 percent from the field, including a 3-for-6 mark from behind the arc, scoring over 20-plus points for the ninth time this season.
In the first half, tied at 9-all, the Tigers used a 13-0 spurt to take control of the game early on.
Concordia Texas slowly chipped away though, using an 11-5 run to cut the deficit to six after Luis Gonzalez's 3-pointer at the 4:50 mark.
The Tornados stayed within striking distance and closed the gap to 51-46 at halftime after Antoine Henderson knocked down a pair of free throws.
Henderson finished the game with eight points and finishes the season with a field goal percentage of a 68.1, breaking the conference's single-season record previously held by UT Tyler's Emeka Obukwelu.
Early In the second half, CTX used a 10-2 run and cut the lead down to 58-56 after Gonzalo Munoz's 3-point jumper.
The Tornados kept the deficit within single digits throughout the second half thanks to Meikle's nine points in the half, while Munoz added seven.
Trailing 78-70 in the final minutes of the game, Meikle and Spencer Bone hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut it to two with under 30 seconds to play.
On the ensuing possession, Meikle secured the rebound after an ETBU miss, giving CTX an opportunity to tie or take the lead.
On the following possession though, Meikle stepped out of bounds on a baseline drive as the Tornados fell short to the Tigers 80-76.
Munoz finished with a game-high eight rebounds and seven points, while Tommy Holiday and Bone had eight points each.
The loss ends CTX's season in the ASC quarterfinals, after reaching the conference tournament for the 13th year in a row.
The program says goodbye to its two seniors, Meikle and Ronnie Hamilton but will return with a strong core of underclassmen in the 2020-21 season.
