SEGUIN, Texas â€" Jordan Kouremetis hit six three-pointers in the first half as the Texas Lutheran Bulldogs raced to a big lead over Austin College and then held off the Kangaroos 87-79 Friday night in Memorial Gymnasium.
 
Kouremetis, the TLU sophomore from San Antonio (O'Connor), made his first six three-point attempts and hit eight of his nine shots to score a game-high 26, two off his career-high 28.
 
The victory kept TLU within a half-game of Centenary (La.) for the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference lead. The Bulldogs improved to 11-8 overall and to 6-2 in the SCAC.
 
Austin College dropped to 7-11 overall and to 3-5 in the SCAC.
 
TLU swept the two regular-season meetings with Austin College.
 
The Bulldogs led by as many as 27 in the second half. TLU took a 62-35 lead with 13:57 to play.
 
Both teams emptied their benches, and TLU appeared to be in cruise control. But the Austin College reserves had other ideas. The Roos cut the TLU lead down to six, 82-76, with 56 seconds to play.
 
Kevin Graham made three three-pointers in the closing minutes to fuel the Austin College rally. After he hit a three to cut the TLU lead to six, Graham had another look from three that would have cut the Bulldogs' advantage to three with 47 seconds remaining.
 
Instead, Graham's last three-pointer rimmed out, and TLU made five free throws down the stretch to close the game.
 
Graham ended the evening with a team-high 14 points in 14 minutes of action.
 
Joseph Richardson (San Antonio/East Central) and Sterling Holmes (San Antonio/Antonian/Richland College) scored 12 and 11, respectively, for the Bulldogs.
 
TLU senior forward Donte McGee (Victoria/Memorial/Texas A&M-Kingsville) added nine points and seven rebounds.
 
The Bulldogs led 42-29 at the half after shooting 57.7 percent from the floor and 64.3 percent from the three-point line.
 
After making nine three-pointers in the first half, TLU went 3-for-13 from distance in the second half.
 
TLU continues conference play Saturday with a 6 p.m. home game with the University of Dallas (12-6, 3-5 SCAC). The Crusaders won Friday at Southwestern and defeated TLU last Saturday in Irving, Texas.
 
Tomorrow's TLU-Dallas basketball doubleheader will have live video and live stats on tlubulldogs.com. The women's game begins the doubleheader with a 4 p.m. tip-off.