ABILENE ? ACU head coach Jason Copeland didn't know on Friday if Riley Lambert was going to play in Saturday night's season finale against West Texas A&M.
It's a good thing, or the Wildcats might not have rid themselves of a long losing streak against West Texas A&M.
Lambert hit a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left in the game to cap an 8-0 Wildcat run in the final 3:54, lifting the Wildcats to a 62-61 win over the Buffaloes, a win that knocked the Buffs out of the Lone Star Conference Post-Season Tournament and sent Tarleton State (a 70-65 winner over Angelo State) to Bartlesville for the tournament.
Playing with just eight players, the Wildcats were able to snap two long losing streaks against the Buffaloes as they snapped a 21-game regular-season losing streak against West Texas A&M and a 19-game overall losing streak to the Buffs. ACU hadn't beaten WTAMU in the regular season since Feb. 21, 1998 in Canyon. ACU's last victory of any kind over the Buffs came March 4, 1999, with a 102-96 triple-overtime decision in the NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament. ACU's last win over the Buffaloes at home was Dec. 14, 1996.
If West Texas A&M lost to ACU, it would need Angelo State to defeat Tarleton State. However, the Texans defeated ASU and the Buffaloes will miss the LSC Tournament for the first time since 2002.
Kyle Shields' lay up with 3:54 remaining gave the Buffaloes its largest lead of the game at 61-54. However, ACU closed with an 8-0 run to end the game thanks to a bucket from Dante Adams with 2:26 remaining, a 3-pointer from Ean Wagner 1:09 left and Lambert's heroic shot came with 30 seconds remaining.
WTAMU ran the clock down to 14 seconds before head coach Rick Cooper called a timeout. With a foul to give, Lambert fouled Shields with just over eight seconds to play. Cliint McFall took the inbounds, missed the jumper from the lane with three seconds remaining and ACU's Kendrick Johnson pulled down the board and was fouled by McFall with two seconds left.
Johnson missed the 1-and-1 free throw McFall grabbed the carom, and his full-length desperation shot was no good.
Wagner scored 18 points and Dante Adams added 17 in the win for ACU. West Texas A&M had four player s in double figures with Clint McFall leading the charge in the losing effort with 19 points. Shields, Nick Burns, and Bijan Dotson eached scored 11 points for the Buffaloes.
ACU overcame a 46 percent shooting effort by WTAMU in the second half and the Buffaloes also canned seven of 15 3-point attempts in the second period. However, the Wildcats' 29-24 lead at half proved to be enough to hold on for the victory.
The Wildcats ended the season with two straight wins and finished at 10-16 overall and 4-8 in the LSC South Division. The Buffaloes' season ended at 16-11 and 6-6 in league play.
ACU said goodbye to six seniors Saturday night, but only three played due to injury. Dejan Sencanski, Milos Klimovic and Marko Nikolic all sat out their final home games at ACU while Cameron Holson, Wagner and Dante Adams ended their final games on a good note.
Holson finished his four-year career with 953 points and Sencanski scored 944 points over two seasons. Adams averaged a career-high 13.8 points per game his senior year, Klimovic averaged 9.3 points his only year with the team, and Nikolic averaged 6.3 points in 14 games. Wagner averaged 10.5 points in conference play his last season.
