SEGUIN, Texas â€" Texas Lutheran withstood a second-half rally from the University of Dallas and posted an 80-74 conference home win Saturday in Memorial Gymnasium.
 
The Bulldogs (12-8, 7-2 SCAC) rolled to a 19-point late in the first half and led by 17 at the break, but the Crusaders (12-7, 3-6 SCAC) cut the TLU lead down to two with 8:29 to play.
 
TLU extended the lead back to 11 four minutes later and made enough plays, and free throws, in the final minutes to hold off Dallas.
 
The win over Dallas was TLU's 12^th of the season. The Bulldogs are at the 12-win mark in a men's basketball season for the first time since the 2004-05 campaign. The Bulldogs went 13-12 that year.
 
TLU moved into a first-place tie with Centenary (La.) in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. Centenary (11-8, 7-2 SCAC) plays Schreiner (11-8, 4-4 SCAC) on Sunday in Shreveport, La.
 
Sterling Holmes (San Antonio/Antonian/Richland College) erupted for 21 first-half points as the Bulldogs seized control early. Holmes made eight of his first 11 shots and five of his first six free throws.
 
Holmes fouled out with five minutes remaining in the game. He finished the night with 23 points and six rebounds.
 
Jordan Kouremetis (San Antonio/O'Connor), a night removed from scoring 26 and hitting six three-pointers, added 20 points and made all four of TLU's threes. Kouremetis also registered five rebounds and four assists.
 
Thomas Verm (Sealy/Sealy) hit five of his seven shot attempts, scored 13, and put in five key points with less than three minutes to play. The 6-foot-8 senior center converted a three-point play with 2:57 on the clock and then hit a short-range jumper with 1:49 remaining to put TLU up nine.
 
Senior forward Donte McGee (Victoria/Memorial/Texas A&M-Kingsville) grabbed another nine rebounds for the Bulldogs and scored seven points.
 
TLU hit 51.5 percent of its first-half shots and held Dallas to 23.5 percent over the same period. In the second half, Dallas made 56.3 percent of its shots while TLU cooled a bit to 45.5 percent.
 
Kym Malone paced the Crusaders with 19 points, four rebounds and four assists. Tom Kaiser added 12 points and nine rebounds off the Dallas bench. Mark Promberger secured 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds before fouling out.
 
TLU does not play again until next Friday and Saturday with home games against Schreiner and Trinity.