Box Score EL PASO, Texas - The Braves led 35-26 at halftime but Western Illinois outscored the Braves 33-24 in the second half and 5-3 in overtime to hand the Braves their ninth loss of the season, 64-62 on the final day of the WestStar Bank Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational.
The Braves went ahead 4-0 early on back-to-back baskets by Devontae Hampton and
Octavius Brown with just over a minute into the first half.
Led by Brown and
LeAntwan Luckett's 13 and 12 first half points, the Braves held the lead the entire first half. Their largest lead was 11 when
Twan Oakley nailed a three-pointer with 5:28 to play before the half to giving the Braves a 28-17 lead.
The Braves shot just over 50 percent in the first half and 85 percent from the free throw line.
Western Illinois came out of the second half and opened up a 16-6 run to tie the game at 42-42 by Jason Hawthorne with 12:56 to play.
Both teams traded baskets for the rest of the way but the Braves had a shot to win the game but Luckett was stripped on his way to the basket in the final seconds sending the game to overtime.
In overtime, Luckett would score the first basket for the Braves to go up 61-59 with 4:12 to go.
A controversial call late in the overtime period gave the ball back to the Braves with 6.3 seconds to play but the Braves weren't able to convert.
Luckett led all scorers with a game-high 23 points on a 8-of-22 shooting. Brown added a season-high 17 points and 7-of-10 from the field for 85.7 percent.
Luckett was named to the All-Tournament team after averaging 21.5 ppg over the weekend.
The Braves open up SWAC play next Saturday at Texas Southern. Game time is set for 5:30 p.m.
