Cats Push 1st Place CBU to Limit in Riverside

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The ACU men's basketball team had a two-point lead with less than two minutes remaining, but couldn't make one more play in a 67-65 loss at California Baptist on Saturday night. 

The Wildcats (10-12, 2-8) and the first-place Lancers (18-6, 8-3) were knotted up at 55 when ACU sophomore Christian Alston made a second-chance lay-up to put his team in front with 1:57 on the clock. CBU scored the game's next five points to retake the lead, 60-57. 

Bradyn Hubbard completed an and-one to pull ACU with a point with just 14 seconds to go. While Hubbad shot his one free throw, ACU head coach Brette Tanner directed a player to go to the scorer's table to sub in. After Hubbard made the shot, a short horn sounded but CBU quickly inbounded the ball and the officials did not stop play. The brief confusion allowed several seconds to tick away before ACU could foul to send the Lancers back to the line.

After two makes put CBU ahead 65-62, the Lancers chose to foul instead of let the Wildcats get up a potential game-tying three-pointer. Cbo Newton made the first free throw, but missed the second. Senior Cade Hornecker stepped in, grabbed the offensive rebound, and had a put-back just fall off the rim before CBU poked the ball out of bounds. 

ACU had a final chance with 2.4 seconds remaining: Newton caught the inbounds pass on the run, turned and fired a long ball with a hand in his face. The shot was missed short, and a long rebound led to the clock expiring before another attempted.


STAT PACK

• Christian Alston's eight rebounds broke his previous career-high.
• ACU held CBU to just 17 made field goals and a 34% field goal percentage.
• The Wildcats dominated in the paint, outscoring the Lancers 34-18.
• Each team turned the ball over 12 times, with ACU scoring a season-low four points off turnovers.
• Saturday was just the second time this season where ACU has lost when grabbing more rebounds than its opponent (was 8-1 entering the day).
• Bradyn Hubbard led the way with 16 points. He also had two offensive rebounds, pushing him closer to the top 10 for most in a career in ACU's Division I era.

UP NEXT

ACU returns to Moody Coliseum for a special Thursday night game on ESPNU against UT Arlington. It is the first time an ACU home sporting event will be broadcast by an ESPN linear channel. Tipoff is at 8 p.m. to accommodate the national TV audience. 

Tickets are on sale now and we need you to be there to show the nation what Moody Madness is all about!