Box Score MARSHALL, Texas – Hardin-Simmons' men's basketball team fell to Concordia 72-66 in the American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament semifinals on Friday night at Ornelas Gym in Marshall, Texas.
The teams played a tightly-contested game throughout. The game had 17 ties and 17 lead changes.
HSU had an 11-2 run in the early part of the second half to take a 48-37 lead with 14:45 to play. The Tornados answered with a 9-0 run to cut it to 48-46 with 11:18 to play.
The game's 17th and final tie came at the 3:48 mark at 60-60. Andre Potts' 3-pointer game the Tornados the lead for good at the 3:03 mark. Justin Jones hit a running jumper with :53 to play to make it 67-66 and the Cowboys played the possession out defensively and got a missed shot but couldn't corral the rebound.
HSU fouled and Brett Demetrotion hit a pair of free throw with :21 to play. Cameron Barnes had an open 3-pointer to tie the game and it rimmed out. The Tornados made three more free throws to seal the win.
The Cowboys shot themselves in the foot at the free throw line, missing 16 free throws. HSU was 18-for-34 at the charity stripe. Concordia hit 26-of-34 free throws.
Senior Derrick Jefferson scored 24 points in the game to lead the Cowboys. He moved to second-place on the Cowboy scoring charts, passing Zach Pickelman. He has 1,625 points in his career. Justin Jones had three blocked shots and broke the ASC record for blocks in a season with 103, passing Timothy Broomfield of Mississippi College who had 102 in the 2006-07 season.
Christian O'Neal had 15 points for the Cowboys but missed the final seven minutes of the game with an injury.
Rashad Coleman had 23 points and 11 rebounds to pace Concordia. Andre Potts added 15 points and Josh Sanchez had 14.
The Cowboys are 20-7 on the year and will have to be awarded an at-large Pool C bid to the NCAA Tournament to have their season continue. HSU was sixth in the South region rankings this week. Concordia improved to 18-9 and will play for the ASC Championship at 4 p.m. Saturday against East Texas Baptist.
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