Wildcats finish 7th at LSC tournament
Byerly named to all-LSC tournament team after posting 216
Results
ROANOKE -- Abilene Christian couldn't make up a huge first-day deficit at the Lone Star Conference men's golf championship and finished seventh in the tournament at Trophy Club Country Club.
ACU was led by Kyle Byerly, who made the all-tournament team by closing with a final-round 71 to finish at 216 for the tournament.
Northeastern State claimed its first-ever Lone Star Conference men's golf title has the Redmen posted yet another steady performance to edge defending champion Cameron in an epic finish. The Redmen, who had been painfully close to winning a conference title several times in the past five years, ended its string of frustrating finishes in 2005 as NSU found the winning formula by posting a three-round total of 867, which was just three-over-par after 54 holes on the par-72 Hogan Course at TCCC. The total was three strokes better than Cameron, which had a strong start to Tuesday's round and actually led throughout much of the day.
Northeastern closed out the tournament with an even-par 288 on Tuesday, while Cameron gave away several strokes down the stretch to finish at 290 for the day and six-over 870 for the tournament.
East Central finished third at 880, while Southwestern Oklahoma was fourth at 884 and Central Oklahoma fifth at 889. Rounding out the field were West Texas A&M in sixth place at 901, Abilene Christian in seventh at 915 and Texas A&M-Commerce in eighth at 917.
NSU was steady throughout the tournament, opening with a one-under 287 on Monday morning before shooting a four-over 292 on Monday afternoon. The even-par 288 on Tuesday gave the Redmen two rounds under 290. Cameron's 289 on Monday afternoon was the only other sub-290 effort in the tournament.
East Central's Andrew Bishop finished as inidividual medalist in the tournament, holing out from 110 yards for an eagle on the par-4 third hole en route to a closing round of three-under 69. He finished with a three-round total of 213, good for three-under-par and a one-stroke victory over Cameron's Owen Mahaffey and NSU's Kevin King, who finished at 214. Mahaffey carded a 73 on Tuesday, while King had 71.
Bishop, Mahaffey and King were joined on the five-man LSC All-Tournament Team by NSU's Brian Ward and Abilene Christian's Kyle Byerly, who both closed with one-under 71s to finish the tournament at 216.
NSU's men will receive the LSC's automatic bid into the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Championships, which are set for May 2-4 in Valdosta, Ga.
