ABILENE – Diego Campisano sank a no-look shot from under the basket as time expired and Northern Arizona escaped Moody Coliseum with a 78-76 win over Abilene Christian on Wednesday night.
ACU's
Hunter Jack Madden had just hit two clutch free throws to tie the game at 76-76 and the Cats defended the last-second shot well, but Campisano snuck in behind the defenders, grabbed the short shot and flung it back up an in.
"The last thing we said on the huddle was, second shots beat you," said ACU Head Coach
Brette Tanner. We did an unbelievable job guarding the basketball but the bottom line is we let a guy work for it a make a tough play. If that game goes to overtime, I have full confidence we win it."
The Wildcats fell behind early in the game, allowing the first six points of the game and falling behind 14-7 before
Ali Abdou Dibba hit a three-pointer and
JV Seat added five points in an 8-0 run for a 15-14 lead.
The latter part of the second half was a scoring show between NAU's Trenton McLaughlin and ACU's
Airion Simmons with McLaughlin finishing the first half with 17 points as the Lumberjacks took a 38-37 lead into halftime.
The Wildcats limited McLaughlin's chances in the second half and held him to five points and two turnovers.
"We gave too much space in the first half," Tanner said. "We also had some guys that weren't going to be matched up with him, matched up with him, and so it wasn't their fault. So at halftime, we told the guys we knew we were going to play to play him a little tighter. It was a matchup thing."
While the defense cooled McLaughlin, Simmons stayed hot and
Kavion McClain kept some of the pressure off the Wildcat leader with some driving baskets of his own. Simmons had to step off the court a couple of times to take care of a nagging injury.
"We're getting everything we can get out of Arion every night," Tanner said. "He's been fantastic and that's a big deal because he struggled last year. I just told him right there he's got to keep it going. I don't care if he scores but he's got to be a positive leader for this team."
Simmons finished the game with 25 points, McClain had 15 and
Immanuel Allen added 11. Allen and Seat were credited with strong defensive performances by Tanner after the game with Allen and Seat getting four steals each.
Cameron Steele added three.
"The bottom line tonight is, we can't get out-rebounded by a smaller team by 16 rebounds," Tanner said. ACU lost the rebound battle 44-28.
The Wildcats return to action on Sunday, hosting Howard Payne at 3 p.m.
