Lamb's free throw gives Buffs 67-66 win
Buffs grab 10th straight win over ACU
ABILENE – Carl Lamb's free throw with 1.77 seconds to play Thursday gave West Texas A&M a 67-66 win over ACU in a Lone Star Conference South Division game at Moody Coliseum.
The loss drops ACU to 12-14 overall and 3-8 in the LSC South Division, while the Buffaloes wrapped up the third seed out of the LSC South Division while improving to 17-9 and 7-4. The Wildcats will close out their season Saturday at 4 p.m. when they host Eastern New Mexico.
Thursday night's game saw 17 lead changes and nine ties, and it was ACU that had a 62-58 lead with 5:11 to play after a jumper by Rodney Lee. The Buffs, though, ripped off a 7-0 run to take a 65-62 lead with 2:44 to play. Rod Prater had four points and Richard Higginbotham three in the run.
ACU, though, regained the lead at 66-65 with 58 seconds left on a pair of free throws by Mauro Matai. Prater, though, tied the game tied at 66-66 with 32 seconds left, setting up the game's final, frantic moments.
After Prater missed the second of two free throws, Matai grabbed the rebound, and ACU called timeout with 27 seconds left to set up the game's final shot. Matai missed inside and Steven Jackson grabbed the rebound. But with the game tied, Rodney Lee was whistled for a foul on Lamb with 1.77 seconds to play, and he made the second of two free throws. The inbounds was intercepted, and West Texas A&M walked away with its 12th straight regular season win over ACU and 10th straight over the Wildcats since ACU beat the Buffs, 102-96, in triple overtime in the 1999 NCAA Division II South Central Regional.
Lee led all scorers with 20 points, and his four 3-pointers moved him to within six of tying Charles Jackson's school record of 281 career 3-pointers.
