ABILENE -- West Texas A&M shot 59 percent from the floor in the second half Saturday afternoon as the Buffaloes ran past ACU, 79-68, in Lone Star Conference South Division men's basketball action at Moody Coliseum.
The Wildcats' second straight loss and third in their last four games drops them to 7-10 overall and 0-2 in the division, while the Buffs improve to 11-6 and 2-0. ACU is back on the floor next Saturday at 8 p.m. when it takes on rival Angelo State in San Angelo.
ACU trailed 32-31 at half, but took a quick three-point lead (35-32 with 17:28 to play) on back-to-back buckets by
Giordan Cole and
Dosh Simms to start the second half. But the Buffs quickly answered with a pair of buckets of their own -- one a layup by Nick Burns and the other a layup by Darius Hall -- as they regained a 36-35 lead with 16:12 to play.
ACU's
Giordan Cole hit a free throw with 16:04 to play to knot the game at 36-36, but the Buffs responded with a 20-10 run over th enext six minutes to grab a 10-point lead at 56-46.
The Buffaloes' lead grew to as many as 16 points (69-53 with 3:02 to play) before the Wildcats'
Eddie Thompson was able to hit three 3-pointers to trim the lead to 75-68 with 55 seconds left.
But the Buffs' Alex Davis and Chris Tucker each nailed a pair of free throws in the final 22 seconds to seal the win for the Buffaloes.
Thompson led the Wildcats with 16 points, while Cole and
Marcus Washington each had 13 and Simms 10.
