UT Tyler's Raven Rodriguez (3) and Jackie Mendez (11) celebrate after they both come home to score, against Sul Ross State University. ( Lang White / Correspondent )

AUSTIN — UT Tyler captured its second-straight American Southwest Conference Championship, but Concordia-Austin made the Patriots work for it.

UT Tyler needed a season-best performance from Jasmine Baskin and clutch baskets down the stretch from Madison Wilson to edge Concordia 72-71 on Saturday.

The win gives UT Tyler the top seed in the ASC Tournament, which the Patriots will host Feb. 26-28 at the Herrington Patriot Center.

Baskin finished with 27 points, going 6 for 10 from beyond the arc. The six treys are the second-most by a UT Tyler player in school history.

The Patriots (23-1, 18-1 in ASC) are now back-to-back regular season champions.

Wilson (finished with 17 points) scored eight of UT Tyler’s nine points in the final 3:19 to prevent Concordia (8-14, 7-11) from pulling off the upset.

After a 3-pointer by Concordia’s Kayla Strobel cut UT Tyler’s lead to 69-68 with 48 seconds remaining.

Wilson responded for UT Tyler when she was fouled on a made layup. She converted the free throw as Wilson went 9 for 9 from the charity stripe in the game to give the Patriots a four-point cushion, 72-68, with 23 seconds remaining for a four-point cushion.

Concordia’s Emily Cullers hit a trey with one second left to make the final score, 72-71.

Concordia started the game on an impressive 18-9 run and led by as many as 10 points with 5:23 left in the half on a jumper by Ashlyn Ward.

UT Tyler cut the lead to four points just before the half on a jumper by Michelle Obach. The Bishop Gorman graduate’s basket gave the Patriots some momentum to take into the locker room.

In the second half, Jasmin Baskin heated up for the Patriots. Her three-pointer tied the game at 44-44 with 15:44 remaining. Baskin delivered another trey minutes later to give UT Tyler a 50-47 lead, its first since the opening minutes of the contest.

Concordia did not go away with the teams locked in a tightly contested battle for most of the second half.

With 4:05 to play, Kia Love scored for Concordia to tie the game, 61-61.

Brittany King converted free throws to give UT Tyler the lead back and Wilson took over from there to see out the Patriots victory.

The Patriots close out the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 21 against Louisiana College in Tyler.

 

MEN’S BASKETBALL

UT Tyler falls short at Concordia, 99-84

AUSTIN —Anthony Gonzalez scored 34 points with four 3-pointers and Tyler Jacobs chipped in 21, but the rest of the UT Tyler roster scored a combined 27 in an eventual 15-point loss Saturday at Concordia Fieldhouse.

UT Tyler led by as many as seven points in the first half when Latigo Collins scored on a layup to make it 32-25 with 6:09 remaining until the break.

Concordia eventually caught and passed the Patriots (3-21, 2-17) and put the game away in the second half.

Josh Sanchez led Concordia (15-8, 11-7) with 36 points.

 

SOFTBALL

Patriots rock Sul Ross, 8-0

TYLER — The No. 8 ranked UT Tyler softball team finished out a series sweep of Sul Ross State, winning 8-0 in five innings Saturday at Suddenlink Field.

The win was Mike Reed’s 375th of his UT Tyler head coaching career.

UT Tyler (5-0, 3-0 in American Southwest Conference) dominated a Sul Ross team (0-3, 0-3) which managed a combined four hits in the three-game series.

The Patriots started early with two runs in the first inning and kept tacking on from there. Shelby Shelton and Kristin Lopez each had two RBIs with Raven Rodriguez finishing with a double, two walks and two runs scored.

Lexi Ackroyd also delivered a single, double and two RBIs for UT Tyler against Sul Ross pitcher Dominique Lopez, who gave up six earned runs on nine hits with seven walks.

On the mound, Kelsie Batten and Abby Walker combined to pitch five scoreless innings for the Patriots, allowing two hits with seven strikeouts.

UT Tyler will be back on the diamond Monday in a non-conference doubleheader against St. Joseph. First pitch is at 2 p.m. at Suddenlink Field.

 

BASEBALL

Patriots edge TLU, 8-6

UT Tyler (2-3) faced Texas Lutheran (4-2) for the second night in a row, and again the Patriots came away victorious.

UT Tyler played long ball with Kevan House smacking a two-run homer to go with solo shots by Buddy McCoy and Garrett Nelson as the Patriots won 8-6 Saturday night at Irwin Field.

The Patriots used five pitchers with Tyler Stallings getting the win after coming on in relief of starter Cade Suggs in the fourth inning. Chad Hayes picked up his first save of the season with a scoreless ninth, allowing one hit with two strikeouts.

It was a game of back-and-forth as the teams combined for nine runs in the first three innings.

The Patriots trailed 6-5 entering the bottom of the seventh when UT Tyler scored three runs to take the lead back for good.

McCoy drew a walk to open things. House then belted a towering shot that flew over the scoreboard in right field to make it 7-6. One batter later, Nelson followed suit with a solo homer over the left field fence to give the Patriots a two-run advantage.

That’s where the score would stay as UT Tyler sealed its second win of the season. The Patriots play Trinity University at 2 p.m. Sunday at Irwin Field.

— Jarah Wright