Box Score
ODESSA, Texas – Armando Brito hit a game-winning buzzer beater to give Texas A&M-International a 71-69 victory over previously undefeated Abilene Christian Saturday afternoon at the Falcon Dome on the campus of UT-Permian Basin.
The loss dropped ACU's record to 3-1, while International improved to 3-2.
Brito finished the game with seven points, all of which gave the Dustdevils a lead during a back-and-forth second half. The senior guard hit his first bucket with 9:34 remaining to put A&M-International up 57-56, and then after a
Marc Little layup brought the lead back to ACU at 60-58, Brito countered with a 3-pointer at the 6:50 mark.
The game then became a battle of free throws over the final five minutes with
Zach Williams' game-tying dunk (66-66) at 1:58 serving as the lone field goal. International would sink eight of its final 12 attempts from the charity stripe to finish the game 25-of-36, while the Wildcats shot 59 percent (13-of-22). ACU's last three free throws by
Armani Williams, following a foul called on Scottie Payne, tied the game a final time at 69-69.
Armani Williams led all Wildcat scorers with 17 points, and was matched by International's Ryan McLucas for the game high. Seven of McLucas' points were from the foul line as he went 4-of-11 from the field.
ACU entered halftime up 44-38 thanks to Williams' sharp shooting as he poured in nine points over the final 1:46 to break a 35-35 tie. Williams started with a 3-pointer, converted a three-point play with a minute remaining, and then buried yet another long-distance jumper with one tick left on the clock.
The Wildcats went on to lead by as many as eight following a big three from
Antonio Bell in starting the second half, but the Dustdevils slowly chipped away at their deficit over an eight-minute span, in which they hit two running jumpers and scored eight additional points in the paint. Brian Schaffer's layup on an assist from Payne at 10:44 trimmed the ACU lead to one, and then Brito drained his first bucket less than a minute later.
The Dustdevils finished the second half with a 58.8 (10-of-17) shooting percentage. ACU, after hitting 65 percent (17-of-26) of its shots in the first half, couldn't find its offensive rhythm in the second and shot just 35 percent (8-of-23).
Bell and
Zach Williams hit double figures for the Wildcats with 15 and 13 points, respectively. Bell and
Armani Williams both started the game 5-for-5, but Bell went 0-for-4 from the floor in the second half, while Williams missed on his lone field goal attempt.
International started the game on 6-0 run and kept the Wildcats off the scoreboard until there was 16:30 remaining, but ACU gained its first lead at 9-8 on 3-pointer from Bell less than two minutes later, sparking a 17-8 run capped by yet another trey, this time from
Kendall Durant.
Durant's bomb gave ACU its biggest first-half lead at 10 points; however, it was quickly whittled away as the Dustdevils responded with several layups to get within one point, and then tied it at 35-35 on a McLucas free throw.
The Wildcats return to action Tuesday at 7 p.m. with a home match against the UT-Permian Basin Falcons. ACU defeated the Falcons, 65-60, Friday night.
