CHICAGO – The ACU Wildcats suffered through a horrific shooting second half Wednesday night and Loyola-Chicago was as hot as the Wildcats were cold as the Ramblers pulled away in the final 20 minutes for an 83-44 win at Gentile Arena.
The victory pushes the Ramblers (Missouri Valley Conference) to 7-2, while the Wildcats fall to 4-5. Wednesday's game was the first for each team in the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic. ACU will be in Boise, Idaho, this weekend for a game against Boise State, which will enter Saturday's game at 8-2 on the season. Tipoff for that game is set for 11 a.m. (mountain time / 12 p.m. Abilene time) and can be heard on 98.1 FM The Ticket.
The Wildcats – now 0-4 on the road this season – played well in the first 20 minutes of the game and went to halftime trailing just 38-29. ACU trailed just 30-27 with 4:10 left in the half when
LaDarrien Williams converted a three-point play. But the Ramblers finished the half on an 8-2 run to take a nine-point lead at the break.
And then the wheels fell off for the Wildcats in the second half as they hit just 4 of 29 shots from the field and scored only 15 points in the final 20 minutes. They were able to get the ball inside on each of the first four possessions of the second half, but missed point-blank shots each time. The Ramblers, meanwhile, scored on four of their first five possessions to open up a 46-32 lead.
ACU got back to within 49-37 with 13:45 left on a
Parker Wentz three-point play, but Loyola then ran off a 15-0 run over the next five minutes to put the game out of reach at 64-37 with 8:46 to play.
"Obviously, we just couldn't buy a bucket in the second half," ACU head coach
Joe Golding said. "If we make a few of those and keep it close early in the half, the outcome might have been a lot different. Now we've got to get ready for a really good Boise State team and try to get better before we go on to play two games in Las Vegas (Monday and Tuesday)."
Austin Cooke had 14 points to tie his career-best for ACU, while
Harrison Hawkins had 11 points off the bench. Montel James and Devon Turk each had 13 for the Ramblers, while Earl Peterson had 11.
