January 31st, 2009
(Photo of Brad Howard by Drew Engelke)
Box Score
SEGUIN, Texas – The Texas Lutheran Bulldogs won for the second time in three days by defeating the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets 85-77 on Saturday in TLU’s Memorial Gymnasium.
Senior guard Nate Walton (Houston/Westside), sophomore guard Jonathan Hutton (Austin/Lake Travis), and sophomore wing Brad Howard (Houston/Cypress Creek) each scored 18 for the Bulldogs (5-13, 5-10 ASC).
Howard Payne (4-14, 4-11 ASC) received 17 points from Zane Smith and 16 from Tom Hermann. Keith Perry and Daytona Burch added 13 and 10 points, respectively.
TLU jumped out to a 14-point lead, 37-23, at halftime and led by as many as 21. Walton’s jumper with 12:21 to play in the game gave TLU a 61-40 lead.
But the Yellow Jackets stormed back into the game. Keith Perry fueled 13-1 run that cut the Bulldogs’ lead down to nine, 62-53, with 8:49 to play. Perry scored eight points in the run – on a three-pointer, a three-point play, and a lay-up.
The TLU lead shrunk to seven, 65-58, with 6:12 remaining on a Smith three-pointer.
TLU answered with a run of its own. The Bulldogs moved the lead back up to 16 with a 10-1 surge. Hutton nailed a three, and Josh Scott (The Woodlands/The Woodlands) added a three-point play. Hutton then hit a jumper, and Howard scored on a lay-up.
HPU’s Brandon Irwin drained a three-pointer with 17 seconds to play to make the TLU lead six, but TLU’s Walton and Michael Flores each hit a pair of free throws to clinch the win.
TLU made 50.9 percent of its shots for the game. TLU shot over 53 percent in the second half. The shooting percentage from the field off-set a 12-for-23 performance from the free throw line in the second half.
TLU continues conference play this Thursday with a 7:30 p.m. game against Sul Ross State in Alpine, Texas. Seguin radio station KWED 1580 AM will have the live broadcast, as well as a webcast from www.seguintoday.com.