MARSHALL,Texas-  The Concordia Texas men's basketball team was outlasted in a 75-74 thriller against East Texas Baptist. Donovan Stafford led all scorers with 24 points inside Ornelas Gymnasium on Saturday.
 
Both teams started the matchup aggressive firing on all cylinders offensively trading back and forth buckets. Midway through the first half, ETBU takes the lead for the first time by one point, 14-13. In a tight contest, freshman guard Corey Thompson beats the buzzard drilling in a deep three-pointer to make it a two-point game going into halftime, 31-29 ETBU up.
 
The Tornados opened up the second-half off strong going on a 9-4 run to take the biggest lead of the game, 38-33. CTX Would nurse their slight lead in a great back and forth battle until the Tigers tied the game at 44 with a three-pointer 13:00 remaining.
 
Concordia would respond with a 8-0 burst to regain the lead,56-51 with 8:06 left. With 20 seconds left, the Tigers started to reduce the gap and eventually found enough baskets and stops to have a chance to tie or take the lead. ETBU would go on to hit the jumper and tie the game to take it to overtime.
 
The competitive battle would continue in OT leading down to the final second with Stafford firing a three pointer for the game winner going in and out of the rim for the Tigers to escape with the win.
 
The Concordia Texas men's basketball team will host Howard Payne University inside Concordia Fieldhouse on February 1 at 7:30 PM.
 
BOX SCORE STANDOUT
Donovan Stafford 24 Pts, 3 Rebs, 1 Stl
Corey Thompson 16 Pts, 6 Rebs, 4 Ast, 2 Stl
Henri Marcus Vizcarrondo Jr. 8 Pts, 6 Rebs
 
 
To keep up to date with everything surrounding the CTX men's basketball program, follow us on social media (@ctxathletics) and visit athletics.concordia.edu