Box Score
SAN ANTONIO – Incarnate Word shot 65 percent from the floor in the second half and held the ACU Wildcats scoreless from the field over the final 8:57 Thursday night as the Cardinals rallied to knock off the Wildcats, 80-68, at the McDermott Center on the UIW campus.
The Wildcats were hot early as they used hot first-half shooting (68 percent) to grab as much as a 14-point lead before settling for a 46-38 lead at halftime.
But the second half belonged to Incarnate Word as the Cardinals hit 15 of 23 shots from the field (65.2 percent), including 6 of 9 from 3-point range (66.7 percent) to overcome the Wildcats. ACU, meanwhile, ran out of gas in the game's final 20 minutes, hitting just 5 of 22 shots from the field (22.7 percent) after burying 17 of 25 shots in the first half, including 6 of 9 from 3-point range.
ACU, though, hit just 2 of 6 shots from beyond the arc in the game's final 20 minutes, and didn't hit a shot after a
Parker Wentz jumper in the lane cut UIW's lead to 66-65 with 8:58 to play in the game. After that bucket, the Wildcats were 0 for 10 from the floor (0 for 4 from 3-point range) and 3 for 5 from the free throw line for their only points.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, ran away from the Wildcats during that stretch, outscoring ACU 14-3 over the final 8:43 of the game.
The end of the game was a complete reversal from the start, which saw the hot-shooting Wildcats jump out to a 28-14 lead in the first 8:36 of the contest. All six of ACU's first-half 3-pointers came in that stretch as
Rafael Farley (1),
Austin Cooke (3), Wentz (1) and
Julian Edmonson (1) each hit 3-pointers in that stretch.
The Cardinals were able to pare the lead down to six points before ACU answered with another run to push the lead back to 11 points (44-33) with 1:29 left in the half. Denzel Livingston – who led all scorers with 25 points – hit a 3-pointer with 24 seconds left in the half to cut ACU's halftime lead to 46-38.
UIW then opened the second half with a 21-13 run in the first 5:22 to tie the game at 59-59 on a 3-pointer by Sam Burmeister, the son of UIW head coach Ken Burmeister. Livingston gave the Cardinals a lead they would not relinquish with a 3-pointer at the 10:07 mark of the second to make 66-63 in favor of UIW.
Edmonson led the Wildcats with 18 points off the bench, while Wentz had 15 and Cooke 14 for the Wildcats.
ACU (8-17 overall and 2-9 in the Southland Conference) will be back in action Saturday at 6 p.m. when it hosts Dallas Christian in a non-conference game in Abilene. Because Moody Coliseum is hosting ACU's annual Sing Song this weekend, the game will be played at McMurry's Kimbrell Arena.
