Eagles' comeback bid falls short in San Antonio

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — A&M-Texarkana had a pair of chances to send Saturday's conference game into overtime, but fell short on each, leaving the Eagles with their third straight loss, this one a 77-74 heartbreaker to Our Lady of the Lake.

After trimming a 10-point OLLU lead to just one with less than two minutes to play, three-point shots by Kaden Keal and Dezmond Washington were unable to find the mark, sending the Eagles to 3-6 overall and 1-3 in RRAC play. The Saints improved to 5-6, 2-3.

Levelle Zeigler led all scorers with 21 points but made just 2-of-10 shots from long range while adding four rebounds and three assists. Chris Coley scored 15 points and was a perfect 3-of-3 from behind the arc. He also grabbed eight rebounds. Washington added 15 points and five boards.

Rob Gil led five Saints in double figures with 14 points and made 4-of-6 from deep, Breion Powell tallied a 13-point, 13-rebound double-double, Lonzo Rand had 12 points, Daniel Helterhoff had 10 and Trey Law filled the stat sheet with 10 points, seven assists and five rebounds.

The Eagles led 17-16 with 13:36 in the first half when the Saints put together a 13-2 run to go ahead 29-19. The hosts would lead by as many as a dozen (38-26) in the first half before settling for a 47-37 lead at the break.

TAMUT cut the deficit to just two on two separate occasions, but OLLU would answer each with 8-0 runs to go ahead 60-50 at the 13:05 mark, then 73-63 with 6:50 to play. Washington's layup at 1:49 pulled the Eagl4es to within a point at 75-74, but following a Saints bucket, the Eagles came up short twice from deep to end their comeback bid.

The Eagles will be off until Jan. 2 when they host Dallas Christian College for a non-conference game, then return to RRAC play Jan. 4 at Paul Quinn.