ACU (3-5, 0-2) dropped its second straight game Saturday night, falling in overtime to WAC opponent Stephen F. Austin (5-3, 1-1) in a final score of 74-79.
The Wildcats came into the game following a loss on the road earlier in the week where they fell to UT Arlington in their first conference game of the season.
SFA grabbed the lead early and held on consistently for the first ten minutes of the game until sophomore guard Nassir DeGruy hit a layup to give the Wildcats their first lead of the game.
Sophomore forward Leonardo Bettiol would come off of the bench and erupt for eight straight points to build up the Wildcat lead. However, the Lumberjacks were able to respond enough to only find themselves down five at the end of the first half, 32-27.
ACU shot 42.31% from the field in the first half, yet went 0-6 from three against SFA’s four made threes.
The Wildcats held onto the lead for a good portion of the second half, but after a three-pointer from junior guard Kavion McClain, SFA tied it up at 45 a piece.
The Wildcats were able to build a little lead up once again and two made free throws from senior guard Hunter Jack Madden gave the Wildcats a five point lead with 6:57 remaining.
SFA would fight back and grab their first lead since the first half to go up three with just under five minutes to play. Just 90 seconds later junior guard Ali Abdou Dibba would sink two free throws, followed by a three pointer from senior forward Airion Simmons to take a 62-53 lead.
Bettiol had a chance to put the game away in the final seconds, but after splitting a pair of free throws, SFA would get one last shot and tie up the game at 66 to send it to OT.
After a tight first four minutes of overtime, SFA hit a three to go up by five with 48 seconds remaining in the game. A missed three from the Wildcats began the fouling game and the Wildcats would fall by five, 79-75.
Dibba led the way for the Wildcats with 21 points followed by Simmons who had 12 to go along with six steals and seven rebounds. Bettiol had nine points and seven boards off of the bench and DeGruy had seven points in a bench role as well.
The Wildcats will stay at home this week and transition back to non-conference play as they will take on Northern Arizona at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Moody Coliseum with the game streaming live on ESPN+.
Quotes will be added following head coach Brette Tanner’s next press conference.
