By Austin Gwin, Sports Writer

ACU suffered a disappointing loss to Cameron University by a score of 71-68 on Saturday. That was not the Wildcats’ only loss, however. Leading scorer and rebounder Dejan Sencanski left the game early with a back injury and did not return to action.

Sencanski joined starting point guard Riley Lambert on the bench, who sprained his ankle at practice Friday and did not play Saturday.

“We were already short-handed to start with when Sencanski went down,” said head coach Jason Copeland. “I felt good about some of the other things I saw from guys who really stepped up. They gave us a shot to win; unfortunately, it didn’t go our way.”

The Wildcats got down early by as much as 10 in the first half before closing the margin to 41-34 at halftime. Their momentum continued after halftime, and the Wildcats pulled within one with about 10 minutes to play.

After a seven-minute stretch in which the Wildcats scored just two points, Copeland’s players found themselves down again by 10. The Wildcats made a late charge and brought the game back within one behind three-straight three-pointers from Ean Wagner, Dante Adams and Cameron Holson to make it a 69-68 game with 1:08 left to play.

With 39 seconds left to play, the Wildcats got a steal from Wagner. But ACU was not able to get a bucket on the next possession. Kevin White missed the final attempt with four seconds left, and the Aggies were able to seal the victory after Terrence Welch hit two from the free-throw line, giving the Aggies a 71-68 victory.

Wagner started at point guard for the Wildcats because of Lambert’s absence. He played well, scoring a game-high 22 points and shooting 5 of 8 from behind the three-point line. ACU used the three-point ball throughout the game to stay close, making 11 as a team. Along with Wagner’s five, Adams and Holson had three each, while Smith and Marquiz Back each had one.

Aggie star Dave Smith had 18 points and five assists in 39 minutes of play. The Wildcats did a good job of limiting his range, holding him to only one three-pointer made in six attempts. Cameron’s Mekaile Reed also had a game-high 22 points, shooting 67 percent from the field.

The loss drops ACU’s record to 8-12 overall and 2-4 in the LSC. The Wildcats began the second half of conference play Tuesday night at Moody Coliseum against Texas A&M-Kingsville.

Results for Tuesday’s game were unavailable by press time.