The men’s basketball team traveled to South Carolina Saturday night to face Charleston Southern University for its second meeting of the season and won in overtime 85-82.
The Wildcats put up 43 points in the first half to take a 43-35 over the Buccaneers at halftime.
However, Charleston Southern outscored ACU 37-18 over the first 19 minutes of the second half and led 72-63 with 1:02 left in the game.
But ACU rallied to cut the score to 74-71, and after a steal on a CSU inbounds, senior guard Jovan Crnic hit a buzzer beater three pointer to send the game into overtime.
The Wildcats found themselves trailing 82-76 with 2:36 left in overtime, but they would hold the Buccaneers scoreless the rest of the way.
sophomore guard/forward Jaren Lewis scored the winning basket on a bank shot to go up 83-82 with 11 seconds left.
“It felt like a Belgian waffle from IHOP: amazing,” said sophomore forward Hayden Howell. “It was definitely a must win game after they beat us on our home court, and it felt great to come out on top in any way we can, and to be rewarded for no matter the score.”
Lewis put together another great night leading the team in points with 26 while freshman Jalone Friday also added 19.
Lewis also led his team in assists with five and grabbed six rebounds while Friday recorded the most rebounds with eight.
For Charleston Southern, sophomore guard Armel Potter led his team in scoring with 21 points while senior guard Raemond Robinson scored 17 and junior guard Cortez Mitchell scored 16 off the bench.
Mitchell also earned the most assists with four while senior forward Ugo Mmonu got the most rebounds with eight.
The win comes less than two weeks after the Buccaneers walked away with a 66-65 victory in Moody Coliseum. The men now improve to 4-3 overall while Charleston Southern falls to 3-4.
“Another big road win is very encouraging and a proof that this program is headed towards the right direction,” said Crnic. “Now we have to take care of academics during the dead week but once that is over we are back to playing games and this last win is a huge confidence booster and I hope we will feed off of it the right way.”
The Wildcats will have the week off and will then face Northern New Mexico College Saturday at 4 P.M. in Moody Coliseum.
