SEGUIN â€" The Texas Lutheran men's basketball team battled back from a 12-point deficit with less than seven minutes left, but couldn't find the tying bucket in the game's dying seconds, losing 73-71 to Southwestern on Wednesday inside Memorial Gymnasium.
 
The Bulldogs, behind some feisty defense that caused plenty of turnovers in the final minutes, came back from a double-digit deficit and had a chance to tie with just six seconds on the clock. Garrett Wilkins drove down the middle of the paint looking to make a play. He saw Thomas Verm in the post, but his pass sailed high, landing out of bounds and giving the Pirates the ball with less than a second to play. The Pirates would inbound the ball and run out the clock, securing the win.
 
Texas Lutheran actually had a chance to tie before the Wilkins' turnover, but Jordan Kouremetis missed a mid-range jumper with 11 seconds left. A battle for the rebound ensued before the Pirates tipped the ball out of bounds, setting the table for the late-game drama.
 
The loss dropped the Bulldogs' record to 1-2 on the year and was their first defeat at home this season. The win moved the Pirates to 2-1.
 
Texas Lutheran wouldn't have even been in the position to tie the game late if not for a heroic comeback. After most of the game had been played within a slight margin, the Pirates gained a 63-51 lead with less than seven minutes left behind a 12-1 run.
 
It was at that point that the Bulldogs ratcheted up the defensive pressure and began to chip away at the lead, scoring five of their next seven points from the free throw stripe. The big push came from back-to-back TLU steals that led to a Robert Watson Jr. breakaway dunk and another Watson fastbreak layup to close the gap to 67-62 with less than four minutes to play.
 
Watson Jr. (Corpus Christi, Texas), coming off a career-high 19 points vs. Open Bible College, scored 13 against the Pirates on Monday on 6-of-11 shooting from the field.
 
After getting down 12, the Bulldogs' defense forced six turnovers in the game's final seven minutes to scrap their way back into it.
 
For the game, the Bulldogs forced 21 Southwestern turnovers while only coughing the ball up 14 times themselves.
 
The fact that the Bulldogs were able to stay in this game, despite the Pirates shooting 56.5 percent from the field compared to 37.9 percent for TLU, is a testament to the scrappiness the Bulldogs showed on Monday. Along with turnovers, the big difference-maker for TLU was its work on the offensive glass, dominating the Pirates 19-6 in offensive rebounds and outscoring Southwestern 12-6 in second-chance points.
 
Individually, Wilkins (Austin, Texas) led the Bulldogs with 15 points on 6-of-15 shooting. He scored 10 of his 15 points in the first half. He also added four rebounds on the night.
 
Joseph Richardson (San Antonio, Texas), a junior, was steady again from his point guard position, finishing with 11 points and six assists. At the start of both halves he was very involved, assisting on the first three buckets of the game for the Bulldogs and scoring or assisting on the first two buckets of the second half. He scored all 11 of his points in a second half that saw him shoot 3-of-5 from the field and 5-of-7 from the free throw line.
 
The charity stripe was another advantage for the Bulldogs, as they finished 19-of-27 from the line compared to 16-of-23 for the Pirates.
 
Texas Lutheran will be back in action on Saturday when it hits the road for the second time this season. The Bulldogs will take on Southwestern Adventist at 9 p.m. Live video and live stats will be available on TLUBulldogs.com.