Cardinals break losing streak, deal Wildcats disappointing 65-57 setback

Thursday, January 23

Abilene

7:30 p.m.

Abilene Christian

7-12 (1-4SLC)

Lamar

2-17 (1-6SLC)

Lamar

Abilene Christian

Photo by: Gary Rhodes

Cardinals break losing streak, deal Wildcats disappointing 65-57 setback

1/23/2014 10:11:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Lance Fleming, SID

ABILENE – Lamar outscored ACU 10-3 over the final 1:34 Thursday night as the Cardinals snapped a 14-game losing streak at the expense of the Wildcats in a 65-57 win over the Wildcats in Southland Conference men's basketball action at Moody Coliseum.

The loss drops the Wildcat to 7-12 overall and 1-4 in the Southland, while the Cardinals improve to 2-17 and 1-6. ACU will be back in action Saturday at 3 p.m when it hosts Sam Houston State at Moody Coliseum in a game that will be broadcast nationally on ESPN3.

The Wildcats came out flat Thursday night, unable to sustain the momentum from last Saturday when they beat Central Arkansas, 73-72, for their first conference win. ACU led 16-11 in the first half before the Cardinals went on a 14-2 run to turn the game around, taking a 25-18 lead with 3:51 left in the first half.

ACU cut the lead to three points at halftime and eventually took a 38-36 lead with 13:10 left on a pair of free throws by Michael Grant. But the Cardinals immediately regained the lead on a 3-pointer by Nimrod Hilliard with 12:42 to play and the Wildcats never led again.

The Wildcats, however, did cut the lead to 55-54 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Austin Cooke, the last coming with 2:08 to play, but Donovan Ross hit a jumper with 1:34 to play. Rhon Mitchell then hit a pair of free throws with 1:27 to play before Amos Wilson hit a driving layup with 1:01 left to make it 61-54. Donovan Ross put the finishing touches on the game with an alley-oop dunk to make it a 63-54 lead with 43 seconds to play.

The Cardinals had four players finish in double figures, led by Mitchell's 16 points. Amos Wilson had 14 points, followed Donnell Minton's 12 and Hilliard's 11 points.

The Wildcats were led by Parker Wentz with 13 points, followed by Julian Edmons with 12 and Cooke with 10.