The Abilene Christian men’s basketball team dropped its last home game of the season Tuesday night, which also happened to be Senior Night.
The Wildcats never held the lead against Eastern New Mexico, and with the loss, their record fell to 1-10 in conference play.
For the four seniors on the team – Kevin White, Riley Lambert, Abby Kabba and Kendrick Johnson – the game was the final one they would play in front of a Moody crowd. Head Coach Jason Copeland has been with the seniors their entire time at ACU.
“All four are great kids,” Copeland said. ” We have been blessed to have them on our team. All four have fought back from injuries. They will represent ACU well in their future.”
With 1:22 left to play, the Wildcats tied it up with a layup by Dustin Heiman. But in keeping with the season’s trend, the ‘Cats could not close.
“We really dug ourselves into a hole like we have done all season,” Copeland said. “It was good to see us tie it, but it wasn’t a victory by any means.”
With only 57 ticks left on the clock, ENMU guard Reggie Nelson hit a 3-pointed that sealed the Greyhounds’ fourth conference win of the season.
The Wildcats had good production from the bench; the two leading scorers came from the pine. Marcus Washington and Heiman had 13 points each, while Eddie Thompson, Dosh Simms and Kabba added nine apiece.
The Wildcats shot 44 percent from the field, including a dismal 27 percent from behind the 3-point line. The Greyhounds on the other hand shot 54 percent from the field.
Shots from the free throw line may have made the difference in the game. The Greyhounds made 20 of 25 free throws, but the Wildcats could not make their freebies. ACU made only 11 of 23 from the charity stripe.
The four seniors will play their final collegiate game against West Texas A&M on Saturday. Game time is set for 6 p.m., and while the game has little meaning, Copeland and his team are approaching the game with a title-game mindset.
“We are going to treat this game like any other,” he said. “We will use the abilities God gave us. We are going to prepare like it was the national championship.”
