By Daniel Johnson, Sports Editor
After being held scoreless in the first half, ACU guard Philip Brooks rallied to score a team high 17 points in the second.
But the surge was too little too late as the ACU men’s basketball team dropped its first Lone Star Conference South Division game 86-82 to Eastern New Mexico Thursday.
The loss dropped ACU’s conference record to 0-1 and overall record to 9-6.
ACU is 8-2 at home and will be on the road Saturday against West Texas A&M.
“I thought Eastern just played good,” head coach Jason Copeland said. “They went on a roll and got going.”
The Greyhounds roll began early in the second half when they went on a nine-point rally and pulled ahead 65-53.
“We missed a lot of layups and made bad decisions,” said guard Elmo Williams. “They were just on today, good from the field and the three-point line.”
After slowly chipping away at the ENMU lead, Brooks capped off a comeback late in the second half, draining a three pointer in the middle of the court and later making two free throws to pull the Wildcats within one at 81-82.
ENMU guard Justin Redman-Trotter responded by sinking his next two attempts at the line to extend the Greyhounds lead.
After a missed free throw by ACU forward Marcos Hubner, an open court block by Norman Alexander gave the Wildcats a chance to pull ahead in the waning seconds of the game.
Williams dribbled down the court but missed the would-be-game-winning shot that would have finished the comeback.
Trotter sank two more free throws to extend the game out of reach for the Wildcats.
“It was crazy,” Williams said. “It is the same thing every game, we’re too busy worrying about other things.”
Despite leading by as much as nine throughout the beginning of the first half, ACU’s missed opportunities and turnovers gave ENMU the push they needed to tie the game at 21-21.
ENMU pulled ahead 23-21 and a Norman Alexander three-pointer reclaimed the lead for ACU.
After the two teams traded a one-point lead back, ENMU pulled ahead 39-31 with less than four minutes remaining in the half.
ACU rallied late in the first half and a Tiago Souza three-pointer cut the ENMU lead to two points.
Despite the inconsistent play of the Wildcats, Williams said he is confident that conference is far from over.
“We’ll steal us one,” Williams said.
