NACOGDOCHES –
Airion Simmons landed a jumper with five seconds to play and Abilene Christian came back from 17 points down in the second half for a 63-62 win at Stephen F. Austin on Saturday.
Ali Abdou Dibba had 21 points,
Hunter Jack Madden added 20 and Abilene Christian forced 21 turnovers.
The Cats seized their second consecutive road win to inch within a game of the playoff group with three weeks remaining in the season.
SFA never trailed in the first half and led by as many as 14 points before taking a 32-22 lead into halftime. ACU fell behind by 17 points and was down 55-39 midway through the second half.
The Wildcats went on a 15-0 scoring spree with Dibba scoring eight of those points to pull the Cats to within 58-57 with 3:38 to go.
Dibba canned a three-pointer with 1:57 remaining to tie the game at 61-61.
SFA missed two of three free throws in the final 1:45 to leave the door open. Simmons got into the lane and made his jumper with five seconds left. The Jacks missed a jump shot as time expired.
Dibba was 10 for 10 at the free throw line and Madden connected on four three-pointers.
Kavion McClain had four assists.
ACU rounded up 11 steals for the game with Simmons and Dibba getting three each.
The win puts the Wildcats at 10-15 overall and 5-9 in the WAC at the completion of their four-game road swing.
ACU returns home to face California Baptist at 7 p.m. on Thursday and Grand Canyon at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
