ABILENE — Just about 11 months after then-freshman forward
Jaren Lewis broke the hearts of the New Orleans Privateers with a banked-in, buzzer-beating 3-pointer from near-halfcourt, Lewis and his ACU teammates were witness to another game-ending miracle, and once again the Wildcats were on the positive end of the game-winning shot.
Saturday night in Moody Coliseum, it was ACU freshman guard
Payten Ricks who rescued the Wildcats from the abyss of a 1-5 start to Southland Conference play when he banked in a game-winning 3-pointer from about 45 feet to beat Lamar, 67-64. Ricks' 3-pointer was more a heave-and-a-prayer than it was a shot, and it was out of his hands just before the buzzer sounded to end regulation.
"I didn't think it was online," Ricks said after the game. "It wasn't really a shot. It was really just a heave and a prayer and it was answered."
For ACU head coach
Joe Golding, it was more than that. It was about the old adage of preparation meeting opportunity.
"Patten was in the gym for about 90 extra minutes Friday because he didn't believe he had played very well Thursday night against Southeastern Louisiana, and his hard work paid off," he said. "Even when we were down 15 (points) in the second half, our guys kept fighting and made plays. Just based off the way we played the last 12 minutes and how hard we worked, that shot deserved to go in."
Last Feb. 27 in a game against New Orleans where the Wildcats trailed by four points with 28 seconds left, it was Lewis who took a pass from
Jaylen Franklin and fired up a 3-pointer from near half court just before the buzzer that gave ACU an 87-84 win over the Privateers. Saturday night it took all nine Wildcats who played to pick up a huge win.
ACU trailed Lamar 48-33 with 13 minutes to play in the game, but chipped away at the Cardinals' lead, finally tying the game 53-53 with 5:02 to play on a
Jalone Friday 3-pointer.
Hayden Howell tied the game again at 57-57 with 3:$4 on a layup before Ricks tied the game again 61-61 on a driving layup with 1:53 left.
After Dorian Chatman hit two free throws with 1:31 to play and Zjori Bosha hit the second of two free throws to make it a 64-61 Lamar game with 31 second left. But Friday buried another 3-pointer with 18 seconds to play to knot the game at 64-64, giving Lamar the chance at the last shot.
But a pass to what he thought would be a teammate cutting to the basket found no one and went out of bounds, giving the ball back to the Wildcats with six seconds to play. Ricks got the ball on the inbounds pass, dribbled up the right side of the floor, crossed half court with about two seconds to play, half-stumbled and threw up a prayer just before the buzzer sounded.
Ricks' prayer was answered as the ball banged off the square on the backboard and dropped through for the game-winning 3-pointer. Not only was it Ricks and Friday in the comeback Saturday, it was the stalwart rebounding and toughness of sophomore forward
Hayden Howell (seven tough points and six equally tough rebounds), and the steady play of Lewis, who had his best overall game in conference play with 13 points and 11 rebounds (first double-double of the season).
It was also Franklin hitting three big free throws on four trips to the line after hitting just 2 of 19 from the stripe over the last three games.
"This definitely wasn't pretty," Golding said. "We were fighting Lamar and fighting each other during the game, but not in a bad way. We were fighting trying to figure out something to get us going, and we found it with about 12 minutes left. This is a great group of guys, and I love coaching them because they're so coachable. All the credit for this comeback goes to the players for just continuing to fight for the entire 40 minutes."
Friday led all scorers in the game with a career-high 23 points, while Lewis had 13 points and 11 rebounds for ACU. Ricks finished with seven points in 26 minutes off the bench.
Lamar was led by Colton Weisbrod, who had 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Doritan Chatman had 16 points off the bench.
ACU is now 8-9 overall and 2-4 in the Southland, while Lamar falls to 11-7 and 3-2. The Wildcats will be back in action next Thursday in Thibodaux, La., when they take on Nicholls in an 8 p.m. Southland Conference game that is schedule to be broadcast on the American Sports Network.
