SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran rallied from 18 down in the second half to defeat No. 25 East Texas Baptist in Memorial Gymnasium Saturday at the TLU Thanksgiving Classic.

With 16 minutes to play, ETBU took a 54-36 lead over TLU. By the nine-minute mark, TLU had the lead down to three on freshman Paris Marquez's (Humble/Atascocita) three-pointer.

TLU pulled even with ETBU, forcing the first tie of the game, on a three-pointer from Jordan Kouremetis (San Antonio/O'Connor) with 6:34 to play.

ETBU stretched the lead back to six with 4:25 on the clock, but again the Bulldogs rallied. Sterling Holmes (San Antonio/Antonian) scored seven consecutive points for TLU and tied the game with a three-pointer with 2:05 to play.

TLU then took its first lead of the game, at 79-77 with 50 seconds remaining, on a jumper from Kouremetis.

Junior Mitchell made one of two free throws for ETBU with 38 seconds on the clock. TLU then ran down the shot clock to about nine seconds on the game clock before taking a Zach Behr (Temple/Temple) jumper. ETBU grabbed the loose ball rebond.

Mitchell took a contested jumper with about two seconds to play. The rebound bounced among players and rolled toward halfcourt as the horn sounded.

TLU, the 2014-15 champion of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, won its fourth consecutive game and improved to 5-1.

ETBU, the 2014-15 champion of the American Southwest Conference, fell to 3-1.

TLU and ETBU each played in the NCAA Division III national tournament a year ago. TLU fell in the first round in a sectional game (against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps) played at ETBU. The Tigers won the sectional and advanced all the way to the Elite Eight last season.

In Saturday's contest, Holmes finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and two assists. Kouremetis added 15 points and three assists.

First-year player Shawn Hamilton (San Antonio/MacArthur) came off the bench to give TLU a spark. The 6-foot-7 forward scored a career-best 10 points and added five rebounds. He hit a pair of three-pointers.

Behr contributed 12 points and five rebounds, and Matthew Gillette (Spring/Klein) recorded nine points and seven rebounds.

After being held to 22.6 percent shooting in the first half, TLU hit 47.6 percent of its total shots in the second half. The Bulldogs were 5-for-9 from the three-point line in the final 20 minutes.

Bret Atkins led ETBU with 25. He hit five three-pointers. Mitchell added 13 points and five rebounds.

The Tigers' 6-7 center Jamil Samuel was limited by foul trouble. He scored four points, grabbed three rebounds and blocked six shots.

ETBU registered 12 total blocked shots against the Bulldogs.

TLU's next contest is set for 3 p.m. next Saturday in Belton, Texas against Mary Hardin-Baylor.