ABILENE -- Northeastern State outscored ACU 19-6 during a critical stretch midway through the second half Monday afternoon and then held off a late Wildcat charge to take a 73-69 win over the Wildcats in a Lone Star Conference men's crossover basketball game at Moody Coliseum.
The Wildcats' fourth straight loss and sixth in their last seven games drops them to 4-6 overall, while the RiverHawks improve to 6-4. ACU will be off until Dec. 30 when it takes on Dallas Baptist in Dallas. The Wildcats will be in Abilene on Jan. 1 for a non-conference game against York College at 3 p.m. at Moody Coliseum.
ACU trailed throughout much of the contest, but grabbed a five-point lead with 13:35 to play after a
Preston Davis 3-pointer, a jumper by
Giordan Cole and two free throws by
Eddie Thompson gave the Wildcats their biggest lead with 13:35 to play.
But Jason Jones scored on a layup with 13:15 to play to make it 48-45, and J.C. Snead knocked down a pair of free throws at the 12:47 mark to make it 48-47. Antoine Branch then hit a driving layup off a feed by Dominic Gaines to put the RiverHawks up for good at 49-48 with 11:38 left in the game.
After ACU cut the NSU lead to 51-50 on a jumper by
Abby Kabba at the 11:07 mark, the Riverhawks responded with an 8-2 spurt over the next 4:40 to re-establish a seven-point lead at 59-52. The lead never dipped below five points until Thompson buried a line-drive 3-pointer with 40 seconds to play to cut the NSU lead to 70-67.
After Gaines hit a pair of free throws with 38 seconds left, the Wildcats couldn't answer.
Giordan Cole missed the front end of a one-and-onhe with 28 seconds left and his team down by five points, and then Davis missed a 3-pointer with 26 seconds to play.
But Marlone Burnett kept the Wildcats in it when he missed a pair of free throws with 23 seconds left, and when Thompson calmly drained two free throws wtih 13 seconds left, the Wildcats were down just 72-69.
But Jason Jones -- who had 14 points and 13 rebounds -- hit 1 of 2 free throws with seven seconds to play to seal the win for Northeastern.
Kabba had his best game as a Wildcat, finishing with 21 points, while Thompson had 17.
