Wildcats topple Indians, 82-71
1/31/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Wildcats topple Indians, 76-71
Lee scores 29 as hot-shooting Wildcats roll to win
WICHITA FALLS – Rodney Lee scored 29 points and Cliff Green had a season-high 19 Thursday as ACU recorded its second straight Lone Star Conference South Division road win with an 82-71 decision over Midwestern State at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.
The win pushes the Wildcats to 11-8 overall and 2-3 in the LSC South, while the Indians fall to 6-12 and 1-2. The victory gets the Wildcats off to a good start on their four-game road swing that began Tuesday with a win at Angelo State and will continue next weekend with games at Texas A&M-Commerce (Thursday) and Texas A&M-Kingsville (Saturday).
The game was tied at 36-36 at halftime, but the Indians took the lead early on a bucket by Josh Drumgole 48 seconds into the half. But Drexel Johnson answered for the Wildcats, and Ryan Coleman's 3-pointer with 17:25 left gave ACU a 41-38 lead, an advantage it would not relinquish the rest of the way.
ACU built its lead to as many nine points when Lee hit a 3-pointer with 10:21 to play to make it a 61-52 game. The Indians got the lead down to four points (62-58) with 7:02 to play and with 4:46 left (68-64), but that's as close as they would get.
With ACU leading 69-64, Lee buried his sixth 3-pointer of the night to give ACU some much-needed breathing room at 72-64 with 3:02 left. ACU was 6 of 6 from the free throw line down the stretch to seal the victory.
The Wildcats shot 61 percent from the field (25 of 41), including an incredible 69 percent from 3-point range (9 of 13).
