LONGVIEW, Texas -- The George Fox men's Basketball team traveled to Texas to play the LeTourneau Yellowjackets, losing 90-69 after being outscored 50-31 in the second half. 

How It Happened
After opening up the game on a 6-0 run, the Bruins saw their early lead slowly fade away, as the Yellowjackets responded with a layup and a pair of triples to take an 8-6 lead with 14 minutes left in the half. A pair of Momo Stokes free throws tied the game at eight before the Yellowjackets ripped off a 10-0 run to take an 18-8 lead. Nick Greenwood hit a jumper to end the run, but LeTourneau responded with a bucket of their own to keep the lead at ten with ten minutes left in the first half, 20-10. 

The Yellow Jackets drove the deficit to 13 with 9 minutes left in the game before back-to-back forced turnovers by the Bruins defense started a 7-0 run that cut the lead down to five, 25-19. A Stokes three-pointer brought GFU back to within four at the 6:33 mark, and the Bruins pulled even closer after three from Noah Marte with just under five minutes to go in the half, with Fox down 31-28. After another Bruins run minutes later – this time on the back of a Greenwood layup and another Marte triple – the Bruins tied the game at 35 with 2:33 left before the break. The two teams would keep it close until the break, with the Yellowjackets taking a two-point lead into halftime, 40-38. 

The Bruins's shooting would need to improve if they were going to hang with the solid shooting of the Yellowjackets in the first half – LeTourneau shot 53% from the field in the first, and 55% in the second – but Fox did not see a significant jump in efficiency in the second half, shooting 36% from the field and 33% from three. The Bruins' defense did enough to keep them within ten for much of the early half and found themselves down by just that with ten minutes left, 61-51. However, the Bruins were unable to match the runs that they put up in the first half, as the Yellowjackets slowly pulled away, ending the night with a 90-69 loss for GFU. 

Top Performances
Noah Marte led the way in scoring for GFU, hitting five threes and putting up 18 points. Samuel Stewart IV led the team in rebounds, grabbing nine while adding eight points and four assists, which was also a team-high. 

What It Means
The Bruins fall to 2-5 on the season, and LeTourneau improves to 9-2. 

What Comes Next
The Bruins continue their Texas road trip with a match-up against East Texas Baptist on Wednesday, December 18th at 3:00 pm PST.