LBWCC lost its lead five different times Thursday afternoon and suffered a bitter 66-62 loss to Southern Union in the ACCC Basketball Tournament at Wallace State in Hanceville.

The Saints were the top seed entering the tournament and had a bye on the first round.

During the contest, LBWCC took an early 8-2 lead in the first half when Victor Benson got in a jumper.

SU started to bound back after grabbing a turnover and converting it to a 3-pointer by Javarius Lawson to cut it to 8-5.

Tylor Owens completed a 7-0 run to give SUSCC a 9-8 lead on a layup with 15:27 to go in the first half to quell the Saints’ first lead.

Gaetan Sarrazin got in a layup to bring the Saints’ lead back to 10-9 with 14:52 left, but SUSCC got back in it on an Owens 3-pointer. Three-pointers by SUSCC stretched the game for the victors yesterday.

After taking a lead at 13-12 on Benson’s 3-pointer, SUSCC started a 9-0 run on back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers.

The Saints crawled back to cut it to five on Troyce Manassa’s layup with 10:31 left in the first half.

The Saints took a 31-30 lead with 2:54 left in the opening half when Sarrazin dished in a layup. Malcolm Snyder put in a layup and increased the lead to 33-30.

SUSCC bounced back on a layup by Kaleb Baugh and a 3-pointer by Jaron Davis to lead 35-33 at halftime.

A turnover and a bunch of missed shots in the second half doomed the Saints as SUSCC kept its perimeter shooting at high priority, along with making essential free throws down the stretch.

Benson’s back-to-back 3-pointers and Manassa’s layup pushed the Saints’ lead to 42-37.

Later in the game, LBWCC had another lead at 56-52 on Janard Estell’s layup with 7:24 left.

SUSCC led 64-62 with 39 seconds on Lawson’s made free throw.

The Saints tried to cut it to one with five ticks to go, but the ball missed from the 3-point range.

Manassa led the Saints with 19 points; Snyder chipped in 14 from the bench; and Benson had 11.

Davis led SUSCC with 20 points. Lawson had 13, and Baugh had 10.

The Saints ended their season 16-11.