SAN ANTONIO – Just a couple of days after one of their best shooting games of the season, the ACU Wildcats couldn't find their shooting touch and Incarnate Word took advantage to take a 64-52 victory in a Southland Conference men's basketball game at the McDermott Center.
In Tuesday night's 83-71 win over Houston Baptist, the wildcats hit 60.7 percent of their shots from the field, including 50 percent from 3-point range en route to a win in the home finale at Moody Coliseum. But in Thursday's loss at Incarnate Word, ACU hit just 31.1 percent of their shots from the floor (19 of 61), including just 20 percent from 3-point range (3 for 15).
The Wildcats, however, posted a solid defensive effort as they held the nation's sixth-leading scoring team (80.3 points per game) to just 64 points and just 23.1 percent shooting from 3-point range (3 of 13).
ACU hit 5 of its first 10 shots from the floor in the game's opening half to jump out to a quick 11-4 lead, but then hit just 1 of its final 19 shots from the field as UIW took the lead. The Wildcats, however, trailed just 23-19 at the break as the Cardinals hit just 9 of 21 shots from the floor.
Incarnate Word led throughout the second half, pulling out to an eight-point lead (48-40) with 7:23 to play on a jumper by Kyle Hittle. ACU answered with a jumper by
Harrison Hawkins to make it a six-point game (48-42) with 6:59 to play, but that was as close as ACU would get the rest of the way. Denzel Livingston – the nation's third-leading scorer entering the game at 22.3 ppg – knocked down a 3-pointer with 6:38 to play to make it a 51-42 game, and the Cardinals never looked back.
ACU senior guard
Harrison Hawkins led all scorers with 21 points, while
LaDarrien Williams had 10 points, the only two Wildcats in double figures. With the loss, the Wildcats fall to 10-20 overall and 4-13 in conference play. They will close out the season Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
