HOUSTON, Texas -- Despite 25 points and eight rebounds from Mason Wallace (San Antonio/Judson), the Texas Lutheran men's basketball team (9-13, 4-9 SCAC) dropped its Friday evening SCAC matchup with No. 3 St. Thomas 77-63 in Houston.

Wallace, who played all 40 minutes on Friday, led the short-handed Bulldogs with his 25 points and eight rebounds while Aaron Garcia (San Antonio/Holy Cross) finished with 12 points, four rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Jonah Johnson (Cibolo/Steele) would be the final Bulldog in double figures with 11 points. 

Texas Lutheran trailed 40-35 at halftime, as the Bulldogs were able to use seven threes to keep the game close despite the Celts advantage in points in the paint (30-10), turnovers forced (7-1), and points off turnovers (11-0). The Bulldogs trailed by as many as seven points in the first half. The Bulldogs would never take the lead in the second half despite making it a one possession game with around five minutes to go. After shooting 59 percent from the field and 77.8 percent from deep in the first half, the Bulldogs offense would go cold in the second half shooting just 29.6 percent from the field, 20 percent from beyond the arc, and 58.8 percent from the free throw line.

With the loss, the Bulldogs have been eliminated from SCAC Tournament contention.

The Bulldogs will look to rebound on Sunday, Feb. 15, as they begin to wind down SCAC play and the regular season with a road matchup against Colorado College. Tip-off is set for 1 PM CT. The game will be streamed on FloCollege. All streaming and live stats links will be available on tlubulldogs.com.

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