ABILENE -- Dallas Baptist outscored ACU 7-0 over the final 2:34 of the seconde half Monday night as the Patriots walked out of Moody Coliseum with a hard-fought 85-82 win over the Wildcats in a non-conference men's basketball game.
The loss is the first of the season for the Wildcats, who fall to 3-1, while the Patriots improve to 2-4 on the year. ACU will be back in action Thursday at 5:30 p.m. when it hosts Cameron in the team's first Lone Star Conference crossover game of the season.
ACU trailed by as many as 14 points early in the contest, but rallied and led by as many as five points (78-73) in the second half. The Wildcats' lead was 82-78 after
Riley Lambert hit a layup with 2:51, but that would be ACU's final bucket of the night as the Patriots rallied for the victory.
ACU was missed all three of its field goal attempts in the final 1:53 of the game and committed three turnovers in the decisive final minutes. Ty Gough got the game tied at 82-82 with 1:01 to play when he hit the first of two free throws.
On the other end, however,
Dustin Heiman missed a layup, and ACU's
Vladimir Gavranic fouled Jordan McGowen with 27 seconds to play. McGowen hit the first of tow free throws to make it an 83-82 game, but grabbed his own rebound on the miss. He was fouled by Heiman, and made the second of two free throws to make it an 84-82 game with 23 seconds left.
After an ACU timeout,
Eddie Thompson missed a 3-pointer from the top of the top of the key and DBU gained possession. Arnie Lewis -- who had missed just one free throw all season entering the game -- hit 1 of 2 free throws with three seconds to play to make it an 85-82 game.
Giordan Cole grabbed the rebound of the second miss and handed off to
Preston Davis, whose running 3-pointer from 45 feet hit the front iron as the buzzer sounded.
Gavranic led the Wildcats with 19 points off the bench, while Heiman had 15 and Thompson 11 for the Wildcats. Gough finished with a double-double for DBU with 18 points and 13 rebounds.
