ADA, Okla. -- ACU outscored East Central 19-3 during a five-minute stretch midway through the second half Saturday afternoon and the Wildcats ran away with am 86-79 win over the Tigers in a Lone Star Conference men's crossover game at the Kerr Activities Center.
The win pushes the Wildcats to 7-8 overall, while East Central falls to 5-9 with the loss. The Wildcats will begin LSC South Division play Wednesday at 9 p.m. (Abilene time) when they take on Eastern New Mexico in Portales, N.M., at Greyhound Coliseum. The game can be heard on KYYW 1470 AM and on www.acusports.com.
East Central led the Wildcats 56-50 with 15:05 left after Maurice Abraham made 1 of 2 free throws. But the Wildcats began their game-winning run when
Preston Davis converted an old-fashioned three-point play to make it 56-53 with 13:36 to play.
On the Wildcats' next possession,
Giordan Cole hit a layup to cut the Tigers' lead to 56-55 with 13:09 left in the game. ACU took its first lead since early in the second half with 12:20 left in the game when
Marcus Washington hit a layup to put his team on top, 57-56.
Eddie Thompson then buried a 3-pointer with 11:57 to play to put the Wildcats on top 60-56. Cole hit a jumper with 10:46 left to make it 62-56. After a free throw by ECU's Eric Allen,
Riley Lambert canned a 3-pointer to push ACU's lead to 65-57 with 10:07 left. After the team's traded baskets,
Kevin White hit a layup to push the Wildcats' lead to 69-59 with 9:13 left in the game.
ACU's lead never shrunk below two points the rest of the way as the Wildcats held on for their first road win of the season.
Thompson led the Wildcats with 22 points, while Washington and Cole each chipped in with 12 points. White had 10 points off the bench as ACU's bench players outscored East Central, 22-2.
