The Wildcats ended their Western Athletic Conference tournament run Thursday with an 80-74 loss to the No. 3 seed Utah Tech Trailblazers for the fourth time this season, finishing the year with a 14-19 record.

The loss marks the fourth straight season the Wildcats have not finished above .500.

Head coach Brette Tanner used one word to define his team this year: character, noting the struggles the team went through this season, including a seven-game losing streak during conference play.

Rich Smith, senior guard from the Bronx, New York, and Bradyn Hubbard, senior forward from Tulsa, Oklahoma, led the way for ACU with 19 points each. Hubbard fouled out with 5:30 remaining in the game.

Tanner said Smith, who has been dealing with a wrist injury over the past couple of games, would not have played in these games if it were the regular season.

“At the moment, it was hurting,” Smith said. “But I just realized these guys are my brothers. Like coach said, character is a big thing with this team, and I just wanted to persevere for my brothers.”

Smith, in his last game as a Wildcat, played a big role in the team’s near second-half comeback, scoring 14 points in the second half.

In the first half, ACU struggled to stop the Trailblazers, giving up 46 points, including a 30-13 scoring run during the final 12 minutes of the half. UTU leading scorer, senior forward Ethan Potter, scored 14 of his 25 points in the first half.

“That first half is on me, not on them,” Tanner said. “I overthought some stuff. I don’t think we were us, and that wasn’t them. That was me.”

The fifth-year head coach said he overthought the team’s ball-screen coverage.

“I don’t regret it. I think it was the right thought,” he said. “But credit to them. I think that they hit some shots, and we don’t play that way normally.”

Potter said one of the reasons he was so successful was his ability to take advantage of ACU’s ball-screen coverage on pick-and-rolls.

Despite the poor first-half performance, the Wildcats outscored the Trailblazers 46-34 in the second half. With 6:21 remaining, Smith made two free throws to cut the lead to 10. This fueled a 15-7 run for the Wildcats, cutting the score to 76-74 with 55 seconds remaining. Potter answered with a dunk on the other end to stretch the lead back to four.

ACU missed a 3-pointer on its next possession and multiple putback layup opportunities, forcing it to intentionally foul and allowing UTU to close out the game at the free-throw line.

With the Wildcats’ season over, they will now look to the offseason, needing to replace four key seniors, with many other potential changes coming to the squad.