ODESSA – ACU outscored Texas-Permian Basin 8-2 over the final 3:34 of the game Friday night as the Wildcats held on for a 65-60 men's college basketball win over the Falcons in the Chick-Fil-A Classic at the Falcon Dome.
The win pushes the Wildcats to 3-0 under first-year head coach
Joe Golding, while the Falcons fall to 2-2. ACU will be back in action Saturday at 2 p.m. against Texas A&M International looking for the program's first 4-0 start since 2007-08.
The Wildcats led by as many as 15 points (48-33) with 15:30 to play in the game, but then couldn't hang onto the ball as they committed eight turnovers that allowed the Falcons to get back into the game.
The Falcons, in fact, outscored ACU 12-1 from the 7:06 mark to the 4:01 mark to grab a 58-57 lead, their first of the game. The run ended with a pair of free throws from Madison Turner.
Faced with their first deficit of the night, the Wildcats responded on with three straight free throws – one from
Eric Kibi to tie it and two from
Antonio Bell – to give them a 60-58 lead with 2:51 to play.
The Wildcats' success at the free throw line continued when Kibi hit another at the 2:24 mark to make it 61-58 before
Zach Williams hit two more at the 1:43 mark to make it 63-58. After Mike Akins made a layup with 1:09 left to make it 63-60, the Wildcats had a chance to put the game away but Williams missed a layup with 34 seconds to play.
The Falcons had two 3-point attempts inside the final 30 seconds, but both Elijah Jordan and Branden Harrison missed, and
Desmond Woodberry grabbed the defensive rebound of his block on Harrison's miss. Woodberry, though, missed a layup on the other end to give the Falcons one last chance.
But Louis Crane turned the ball, Woodberry stole it and fed Williams, who finished the game with a dunk to give the Wildcats the win.
Kendall Durant led the Wildcats with 13 points on 6 of 12 shooting, while Williams had 12 points and four steals.
Antonio Bell had 10 points and two steals off the bench, while Kibi had eight points and 10 rebounds. Woodberry finished with eight points, six rebounds, one assist, one block and three steals.
