A frustrating season came to a close for the Wildcats when West Texas A&M defeated ACU 77-63 in the season finale Saturday.

The loss caps a tough season for the men’s basketball team; they conclude 8-19 for the season and 1-11 in the LSC South Division.

The men’s basketball program has struggled, finishing with losing seasons 10 of the past 12 years. The Wildcats will now have missed the LSC postseason tournament 11 of those 12 years. This is also the fifth time in the past 11 years ACU has failed to finish a season with at least 10 wins.

“I am disappointed in the season,” said Head Coach Jason Copeland. “I felt that there were a handful of games that we could have easily won. We had a tough time due to injury and sickness this year.”

Dustin Heiman finished second on the team in points per game with 9.5, but he missed nine games, including three conference games, that hurt the Wildcats. Vladimir Gavranic also missed multiple games due to injury.

The Wildcats are losing four seniors, but they are returning their top four scorers from this season. Eddie Thompson led the team, averaging 14.6 points per game, and he is favored to lead the Wildcats next year in his senior season.

“We have a good group of guys that are coming back that know what they need to do to get better,” Copeland said. “We need to get physically tougher. That will help us mentally as well.”

Despite a tough season, the Wildcats have a strong core of athletes who are looking to improve in the off-season. The ACU coaching staff is already working on recruiting for next season as well.

“We are working on developing new kids into leadership roles,” Copeland said. “We need to go get two guards signed and then a little more help on the inside. After that we are going after the best player we can find.”