Texas Lutheran Drops Heartbreaker to Austin College, 70-68

SEGUIN, Texas -- Despite LaDarius King (Austin/St. Stephen's Episcopal) and DJ Ardoin (Houston/Pearland) combining to score 38 points, Texas Lutheran fell to Austin College, 70-68, on Saturday.

LaDarius King scored a career-high 24 points on 7-of-11 shooting, 3-of-5 from deep, and 7-of-7 from the free throw line and DJ Ardoin added 14 points and four rebounds on 4-of-6 shooting for Texas Lutheran (10-9, 5-5 SCAC).

Texas Lutheran led 22-15 with 9:28 remaining in the first half, but the 'Roos were able to cut into the Bulldogs lead to close the half with Texas Lutheran taking a 34-32 lead into the break. King led the Bulldogs with 15 points on 5-of-5 shooting, including 3-of-3 from deep in the first half.

At halftime, Texas Lutheran honored the 1995-96 Texas Lutheran College Heart of Texas (H.O.T.) Conference Championship team with a ring ceremony celebrating their historic season.

Austin College finally took the lead early in the second half and would lead for a majority of a second half that saw five lead changes and three ties. Texas Lutheran would trail by as many as eight points in the second half but would rally to tie the game 63-all with 3:14 remaining.

Austin College led 70-64 with one minute remaining, but turned the ball over following an Ardoin steal. LaDarius King would draw a foul following the steal and convert both free throws before stealing the inbounds pass following a 'Roos timeout. Ardoin would draw a foul following King's steal - converting both free throws to bring the 'Roos lead to 70-68 with 21 seconds remaining. Following a missed free throw from Austin College, TLU would go the length of the court with 11 seconds remaining and have two attempts to tie the game rim out to end the ball game.

Up next, The Bulldogs return to action on Friday, Jan. 27, with a road game at St. Thomas. Tip-off is set for 8 PM. All streaming and live stats links will be available on tlubulldogs.com.