HOUSTON — ACU's season came to an end Saturday evening in Sharp Gymnasium under a hail of Houston Baptist second-half buckets as the Huskies rallied from a halftime deficit to knock off the Wildcats, 81-72, in the regular-season finale for both teams.
Houston Baptist -- which shot just 40 percent in the first half (12 of 30) -- hit 18 of 27 shots in the second half (66.7 percent), including 7 of 13 from 3-point range.
The Wildcats end their season at 13-16 overall and 7-11 in the Southland Conference, while the Huskies — winners of nine straight games — go into next week's conference post-season tournament at 17-12 and 12-6 and the tournament's No. 4 seed.
ACU led 33-30 at halftime, thanks to 13 first-half points from sophomore center
Hayden Farquhar and 12 from sophomore forward
Jaren Lewis. But the Huskies quickly got the game tied at 35-35 and regained the lead for good at 42-40 on a jumper by Reveal Chukwujekwu with 16:42 to play in the game.
The game was back and forth from there until ACU sophomore guard
Jaylen Franklin hit two free throws to knot the game at 53 apiece with 11:16 left in the game. But on HBU's ensuing trip, ACU's
Drake Green was whistled for a foul on HBU Jalon Gates on a 3-point attempt, and Gates connected on all three free throws to put the Huskies ahead 56-53.
Farquhar buried a 3-pointer on ACU's ensuing possession to knot the game once again at 56-56 before Gates answered with a 3-pointer on the other end to give the Huskies the lead for good. The Huskies stretched the lead out to as much as 11 points before settling for the nine-point win.
Five Huskies scored in double figures, led by Atif Russell's 20 points, while four Wildcats were in double figures led by 23 points and 11 rebounds from Lewis. Farquhar finished with 16 on 4 of 8 shooting from 3-point range, while
B.J. Maxwell tied his career high with 13 points and Franklin finished with 10 points and seven assists in 40 minutes.
