Brashears led the Indians with 15 points while Rommel Colina added 14 and Terence Mirabal had 13. The Bulldogs were led in scoring by Will Hudson who had 26, and Jerrod Carpenter and Matt Nelson scored in double figures for Texas Lutheran.
McMurry led 30-26 at the half but struggled shooting from the floor hitting just 11 of 34 shots for a .342 percentage. Terence Mirabal led the team at the half with nine points all coming from the 3-point line as he nailed 3 of 4 from beyond the arc.
Texas Lutheran’s Will Hudson scored 16 first-half points and added five rebounds. The Bulldogs might have led the game but they struggled to take care of the ball in the first period turning the ball over 15 times.
The second half was back-and-forth as Texas Lutheran took the lead twice, but a couple of McMurry runs kept them at bay. Leading 42-40, Dustin Faught rebounded Alvin Stevens’ miss and kicked it out to Rommel Colinas for a 3-pointer. Then on the ensuing play Faught stole the ball in the backcourt, made a quick spin move and laid the ball in to put the Indians up 47-40 with 10:14 remaining.
Russell Raymond’s 3-pointer with 9:32 remaining continued the run to 10-0 before Texas Lutheran responded with a lay in after breaking the press to bring the score back within 10 points.
Texas Lutheran climbed back into the ball game trailing by just three points after a (#43) bucket with 4:29 remaining. Hudson then hit a three for the Bulldogs with 3:12 left to put Texas Lutheran within two points, trailing just 62-60.
Elijah Bryant stole the ball with 2:04 and dished to Alvin Stevens for the lay in to put the Indians back up four, but Hudson countered with a bucket on the other end. Finlay Brashears then committed an intentional foul on (#41) with 59 seconds remaining. He drained both free throws to tie the game, and then #34 put the Bulldogs up two with 40 seconds remaining.
Brashears made up for his miscue on the next possession draining a three after a kick out from Colina. Leading 67-66, the Bulldogs had 26 seconds to regain the lead. #5 drove the lane with six seconds remaining throwing a careless pass that Faught nearly intercepted, but the ball went out of bounds leaving just six seconds for the Bulldogs to put up a final shot.
Faught then stole the ball from #43 after the inbounds and Texas Lutheran had no choice but to foul McMurry’s Russell Raymond with 0.76 seconds remaining. Raymond made just one of two, but it didn’t matter as the hail-Mary heave hit the rafters for the Bulldogs.
McMurry improved to 11-6 and 10-4 in the American Southwest Conference while Texas Lutheran fell to 6-10 and 5-9 in the ASC.
McMurry plays in Kerrville Saturday against Schreiner, the tip off is scheduled for 3 p.m.