ABILENE – Saturday afternoon at Moody Coliseum, the ACU Wildcats found themselves in a situation that has become all-too-familiar so far in Southland Conference play: trailing late in a one-possession game with a chance to win the game.
The Wildcats have responded to that scenario twice with wins over Sam Houston State and McNeese, but couldn't close the deal on a comeback Saturday against Southeastern Louisiana, falling to the Lions, 72-70. The loss drops ACU to 10-7 overall and 2-2 in the league, while the Lions improve to 9-7 and 3-0.
ACU – which trailed by as many 12 points in the second half – had a chance to win the game with less than two seconds to play and trailing 71-70, but Isaiah Tripp's 3-pointer from the corner was off the mark and Southeastern Louisiana grabbed the defensive rebound and hit one free throw with 0.7 seconds to play to seal the win.
Against McNeese earlier in the week, ACU was able to rally from a 13-point second-half deficit to pull out a 79-74 victory over the Cowboys. And Saturday against the Lions, ACU found itself in a very similar situation, trailing the Lions 52-40 with 14:34 to play after a 3-pointer by Jordan Capps gave his team its biggest lead of the game.
About one minute later, ACU lost junior forward Jaren Lewis for the rest of the game when he left after turning his right ankle. Lewis left the game with 13 points and six rebounds and did not return, although head coach
Joe Golding said after the game he believed Lewis would be fine for the Wildcats' upcoming road trip.
ACU hung around, though, thanks to junior point guard Jaylen Franklin, who was nearly unstoppable driving to rim in the second half. He was 6 of 10 from the field in the second half with most of those shots layups or short jumpers in the paint.
But the Wildcats never could get over the hump and make it a one-possession game as the Lions were able to maintain a lead from 4-7 points throughout the second half, thanks in part to some huge 3-point shots that beat the shot-clock buzzer or some big offensive rebounds that allowed them to run clock.
The Wildcats, however, finally got it down to a one-possession game inside 45 seconds to play when Franklin hit a short jumper with 33 seconds left to make it a 70-65 game. After Jabbar Singleton missed the front end of a 1-and-1 free throw opportunity, ACU grabbed the rebound and Franklin sprinted up the floor and hit a layup to cut the lead to 70-67 with 23 seconds to play.
Jordan Capps hit the first of two free throws with 22 seconds to play, but Hayden Farquhar grabbed the rebound of the miss on the second free throw and Tevin Foster buried a 3-pointer on the other end to cut the Southeastern lead to 71-70 with 17 seconds to play.
Marlain Veal was fouled on the ensuing inbounds pass, but he missed the front end of the 1-and-1 and Farquhar grabbed the rebound and pitched it ahead to Foster. However, the Lions immediately double-teamed him at the top of the key, determined to not let the leading scorer in Southland Conference games (20.3 ppg in three conference games entering Saturday's contest) beat them.
He passed it inside to Farquhar, who found Tripp in the corner for an open look at a 3-pointer. But it was long and Moses Greenwood grabbed the defensive rebound and was fouled. He hit one free throw with 0.7 seconds left and that sealed the win.
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
• The Lions won the game behind the 3-point line and at the free throw line. Southeastern was 9 of 17 from 3-point range compared to just 5 of 18 for ACU, and the Lions were 11 of 18 from the free throw line to ACU's 7 for 13.
• The Wildcats forced 19 Southeastern turnovers and turned those into 21 points.
• Each of the Wildcats' four Southland Conference games have been decided by five points or less. ACU lost at New Orleans by three, beat Sam Houston State by three, beat McNeese by five and lost Saturday by two.
THEY SAID IT
ACU head coach Joe Golding on the win …
"We've had back-to-back bad first halves in these two home games, and that's really hurt us and been a big disappointment. We were able to dig out of that hole (Wednesday) against McNeese, but weren't able to do that (Saturday) against Southeastern. We played hard all the way through, though, and gave ourselves a chance at the end, but just couldn't get it done. We've won a lot of games like that one this season, but just couldn't make it happen (Saturday)."
UP NEXT
The Wildcats will return to the road next week as they play Wednesday (Jan. 10) at 7 p.m. at Houston Baptist, and then take on Northwestern State in Natchitoches, La., next Saturday at 3 p.m. ACU's next home contest will be Wednesday, Jan. 17, when it hosts Stephen F. Austin.
