Saturday afternoon at TLU’s Memorial Gymnasium, Texas Lutheran won its fifth straight American Southwest Conference game and improved to 14-5 overall and to 6-2 in the ASC West. The Bulldogs sit in second place in the division standings.
Hardin-Simmons fell to 5-13 overall and to 3-4 in the ASC West.
TLU’s Jerrod Carpenter led the Bulldogs in scoring for the third consecutive game with a 19-point, 10-rebound effort against the Cowboys. Carpenter, the redshirt freshman, had 15 points and nine rebounds at the half as the Bulldogs opened a 31-14 lead.
The Texas Lutheran lead hit 36 (64-28) on a three-pointer by Matt Frye with 9:22 to play.
The Bulldogs hit seven of nine 3-point attempts to start the second half. Nik Summers hit four 3-pointers in a row in a span of five offensive possessions. Hunter Holsonback and Matt Nelson also hit threes early in the second half.
Summers added 15 points, and Nelson posted 12 points, seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Mike Ekanem scored eight points and dished out four assists.
Even with the TLU lead in the 30s, Hardin-Simmons kept up the fight as TLU emptied its bench. The Cowboys closed the game to 12 (71-59) with 2:32 to play and forced TLU head coach Tom Oswald to send some of his starters back into the game. Carpenter came back into the contest and hit a jumper to put TLU up 14 (73-59).
The Cowboys went on a 15-0 run at the start of their comeback attempt.
Andre Washington led Hardin-Simmons with 13 points and seven rebounds. Grant Justus and Tanner Kudrna added 12 and 11 points, respectively.
The Cowboys shot just 27.3 percent in the first half.
Texas Lutheran finished the game with a shooting percentage of 51.9.
Texas Lutheran’s next action comes Thursday in Abilene against McMurry. The match-up with the Indians is the first of four consecutive road games for the Bulldogs.