JOE GOLDING POSTGAME INTERVIEW WITH GRANT BOONE
CANYON, Texas - Darnell Jackson's last-second jumper fell short and Abilene Christian celebrated its first victory at West Texas A&M in over a decade Wednesday night at the First United Bank Center by a score of 59-58.
The victory was ACU's fourth straight and its first over the Buffaloes since its buzzer-beater 61-60 triumph at Moody Coliseum near the end of the 2008-09 season. The Wildcats last win in Canyon, 91-87, took place during the 1997-98 campaign.
The Buffaloes' loss was their first of the season, dropping them to 6-1 (0-1 LSC)
ACU (4-1, 1-0 LSC) led by as many as nine points early in the second half, but the home team kept chipping away at its deficit until grabbing a one-point lead with 8:03 to go on a layup by Donald Sims, who led all players tonight with 19 points. From there, the lead changed hands four more times starting with a bucket from ACU senior center
Steven Werner on the following possession.
Werner hit one of two free throws to push the Wildcat lead to 52-50 several minutes later, but Simms tied it on another basket in the paint. Kennon Washington then gave the Buffaloes their final lead with a foul shot coming at the 4:49 mark.
ACU went on to hold WT scoreless over the next three minutes, during which it received two huge baskets from senior guard
Elliott Lloyd. The Northern Colorado transfer first buried a trey with 4:23 left to put ACU up 53-55 and later drained a jumper that extended its lead to 57-53.
On the game's next three possessions, Jackson's 3-pointer was immediately answered by a layup from ACU's
Eric Lawton, which was then followed by a Washington basket that brought WT back within a point at 59-58 and 1:02 remaining.
ACU attempted its last shot with 27 ticks left - a missed 3-pointer by Lloyd - and then after a series of timeouts from both sides, Jackson missed his desperation jumper at the buzzer.
Jackson, who finished the game with three points on 1 of 8 shooting, was forced into taking the final shot after ACU senior
Desmond Woodberry bodied up on Washington, the intended shooter. Without a clear look at the basket, Washington lost control of the ball and fumbled it over to Jackson, who had no choice but to toss up a 20-footer that hit off the front of the rim.
Washington was second to Sims on WT with 14 points.
The Wildcats tonight shot a season best 55.8 percent (24 of 43) led by Werner's 16 points and collected 15 each from Lawton and Lloyd, who also tied for the team lead with six assists.
ACU senior forward
Dosh Simms pulled down a team-high six rebounds in his season debut.
The Wildcats jumped out to a pair of 13-points lead during the first half but entered the break tied at 32-32 after WT went on a 20-7 run over the final six minutes. The Buffaloes made seven straight field goals and picked up a free throw from Tez Dumars from the 6:04 to 1:50 mark to tie the game at 29-29. Sims then converted a 3-point play to give WT its first lead, but Lloyd responded with a game-tying 3-pointer.
ACU finished 7 of 16 from beyond the 3-point arc, but was a dismal 4 of 12 at the free-throw line.
West Texas A&M along with several other Lone Star Conference schools in action Wednesday honored the memory of
Rex Fleming prior to tonight's game with a moment of silence. Rex passed away Sunday night following a two-year battle with brain cancer. He was 10 years old.
The Wildcats return to action Saturday at 4 p.m. playing host to Eastern New Mexico, which defeated to Angelo State Wednesday night in Portales, N.M., 76-67.
