Texas Lutheran Knocks Off Schreiner 79-74 in 2OT

SEGUIN, Texas -- The Texas Lutheran men's basketball team closed the game with three consecutive defensive stops to get past Schreiner in double overtime, 79-74, Saturday evening at Memorial Gymnasium.

With the win, TLU improves to 10-7, 5-3 in the SCAC, while Schreiner falls to 9-8, 3-5 in the SCAC.

Freshman LaDarius King (Austin/St. Stephen's Episcopal) had the best game of his collegiate career thus far on Saturday as he posted a career-high in points (16) and rebounds (4). The Austin, Texas, native finished the game 7-of-11 from the field.

Xavier Phillips (Austin/Dripping Springs) finished with 15 points, nine of which came in the two overtime periods. Phillips would make two of his three field goal attempts and 5-of-6 free throws in the extra periods. Riley Fornerette (Surprise, Ariz./Dysart) added 14 points and four steals. Isaac Orozco (Helotes/O'Connor) added 11 points and season-high eight assists while DJ Ardoin (Houston/Pearland) finished in double-figures for the second consecutive game, adding 11 points.

The first half would see 11 lead changes as the two teams traded momentum in the early part of Saturday evening's matchup but it would be Texas Lutheran who would take a 27-24 lead into the break. Despite the low scoring output in the half, Schreiner would shoot 55% in the opening period. Texas Lutheran would struggle shooting 29.7% in the first half but they would own the boards with 11 offensive rebounds and 12 second chance points in the period while also forcing 13 Schreiner turnovers. In what was an ultra-rare occurrence the first half would feature no free throws by either team.

The second half would be reminiscent of the first as neither team would be able to pull away with the largest lead of the entire game being Texas Lutheran's six point early second half lead. TLU would maintain the lead until 5:23 remaining and the two teams would exchange one possession leads for the remainder of regulation. Mason Wallace (San Antonio/Judson) would split a pair of free throws to tie the game 58-all with 48 seconds left in what would be the final conversion of regulation.

In the first overtime, Texas Lutheran would lead for a majority of the period and would carry a two point lead with 1:11 remaining following a pair of free throws from Riley Fornerette, but a pull up jumper from Schreiner with 47 seconds remaining would send the game into a second overtime period with the two teams tied at 68.

Texas Lutheran would outscore the Mountaineers 11-6 in the second overtime behind seven points from Phillips including five free throws in the final 1:11 of the overtime period to close the game and clinch the win.

The Bulldogs finished with a 21-14 advantage in points off turnovers, a 23-4 advantage in second chance points, and finished +12 in turnovers.

Schreiner shot 52.8% from the field compared to just 35.5% for Texas Lutheran, but the Bulldogs attempted 23 more shots (76 to 53) than the Mountaineers.

Texas Lutheran is back in action Friday, Jan. 20, as it welcomes University of Dallas to Memorial Gymnasium. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 PM. All streaming and stat links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.