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Contributed by Lance Fleming, ACU Associate Director of Athletics for Media Relations
ABILENE - The ACU Wildcats had Saturday afternoon's game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi set up just like they wanted: trailing late, but in position to pull off a late stunner.
But unlike last week when the Wildcats rallied for seven points in the final 18 seconds - including a banked-in halfcourt heave at the buzzer from Jaren Lewis in an 87-84 win over New Orleans - the breaks didn't go the right way for the Wildcats as they dropped a 74-69 decision to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the final game of the 2015-16 season.
The Wildcats finish their season at 13-18 overall and 8-10 in Southland Conference play, but with a lot of momentum going into next season, thanks to a senior class of Parker Wentz, Jalen Little, Austin Cooke and Duran Porter that was celebrated on Senior Day before Saturday afternoon's tipoff. Those four players were the foundation of a program that doubled its conference win total in each of the last two seasons, from two wins in 2013-14 to four wins in 2014-15 to eight wins in 2015-16.
"Our four seniors were incredible all season," ACU head coach Joe Golding said. "They helped us start to this thing around and move it in the right direction. But now it's up to the guys coming back next year and beyond to keep it going. Those four seniors helped us close the game; now it's time for the younger guys to get us over the top."
Twice in the final 10 days of the season the Wildcats took the league's second-best team down to the wire, and twice the Islanders made key plays down the stretch to pull out narrow victories. On Feb. 23 on the Texas Gulf Coast, the Wildcats led for much of the game before the Islanders pulled away late to take a 65-59 win over ACU.
Saturday at Moody Coliseum, the Wildcats led for more than 33 minutes and the Islanders only led for 4:36 on their way to a five-point victory. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, it was the final 4:36 of the game that the Islanders led.
ACU led throughout before the Islanders finally took a lead at 60-59 on a jumper by Bryce Douvier with 4:36 to play and ACU would not lead again. A 3-pointer by Hameed Ali with 3:08 to play gave Corpus a 63-59 lead before Jalen Little hit the first of two free throws to cut the lead to 63-60 with 2:32 to play.
Rashawn Thomas followed with a jumper before Jaylen Franklin hit a pair of free throws with 1:21 left to narrow the margin to 65-62. On the Islanders' ensuing trip down the floor, Franklin was whistled for a foul on Ali as he attempted a 3-point shot that fell short. Ali, however, made all three free throws to make it a 68-62 game with 56 seconds left.
Little scored a quick layup, and after a steal by Franklin and a foul by Thomas, Franklin hit a pair of free throws to cut the Corpus lead to 68-66 with 41 seconds to play. And that's when it looked like the Wildcats might get a huge win to end their season.
On the ensuing inbounds play, Douvier's pass was stolen by Little, who dished the ball underneath to freshman Jaren Lewis for a potential game-tying layup. After the ball rolled off the rim, Lewis grabbed the rebound and put up another shot that again rolled off the rim and found the hands of Douvier for a defensive rebound. ACU was forced to foul in the final 26 seconds, and Corpus did just enough from the line to keep the Wildcats at bay.
"Our guys played extremely hard, just like they did all season," Golding said. "I'm really proud of them for how hard they played. Effort was never a question with this group. We could have shot it better from the free throw line (12 of 24 Saturday afternoon), and we could have done some other things better that might have made a difference. But I'm proud of this team, and I'm grateful to them for everything they've done to get this program moving in the right direction."
Cooke - playing in his final game as a Wildcat - finished with 14 points on 5 of 6 shooting from the field (4 of 5 from 3-point range), while Franklin finished with 14 points and Lewis 11 for ACU.
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ABILENE - The ACU Wildcats had Saturday afternoon's game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi set up just like they wanted: trailing late, but in position to pull off a late stunner.
But unlike last week when the Wildcats rallied for seven points in the final 18 seconds - including a banked-in halfcourt heave at the buzzer from Jaren Lewis in an 87-84 win over New Orleans - the breaks didn't go the right way for the Wildcats as they dropped a 74-69 decision to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the final game of the 2015-16 season.
The Wildcats finish their season at 13-18 overall and 8-10 in Southland Conference play, but with a lot of momentum going into next season, thanks to a senior class of Parker Wentz, Jalen Little, Austin Cooke and Duran Porter that was celebrated on Senior Day before Saturday afternoon's tipoff. Those four players were the foundation of a program that doubled its conference win total in each of the last two seasons, from two wins in 2013-14 to four wins in 2014-15 to eight wins in 2015-16.
"Our four seniors were incredible all season," ACU head coach Joe Golding said. "They helped us start to this thing around and move it in the right direction. But now it's up to the guys coming back next year and beyond to keep it going. Those four seniors helped us close the game; now it's time for the younger guys to get us over the top."
Twice in the final 10 days of the season the Wildcats took the league's second-best team down to the wire, and twice the Islanders made key plays down the stretch to pull out narrow victories. On Feb. 23 on the Texas Gulf Coast, the Wildcats led for much of the game before the Islanders pulled away late to take a 65-59 win over ACU.
Saturday at Moody Coliseum, the Wildcats led for more than 33 minutes and the Islanders only led for 4:36 on their way to a five-point victory. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, it was the final 4:36 of the game that the Islanders led.
ACU led throughout before the Islanders finally took a lead at 60-59 on a jumper by Bryce Douvier with 4:36 to play and ACU would not lead again. A 3-pointer by Hameed Ali with 3:08 to play gave Corpus a 63-59 lead before Jalen Little hit the first of two free throws to cut the lead to 63-60 with 2:32 to play.
Rashawn Thomas followed with a jumper before Jaylen Franklin hit a pair of free throws with 1:21 left to narrow the margin to 65-62. On the Islanders' ensuing trip down the floor, Franklin was whistled for a foul on Ali as he attempted a 3-point shot that fell short. Ali, however, made all three free throws to make it a 68-62 game with 56 seconds left.
Little scored a quick layup, and after a steal by Franklin and a foul by Thomas, Franklin hit a pair of free throws to cut the Corpus lead to 68-66 with 41 seconds to play. And that's when it looked like the Wildcats might get a huge win to end their season.
On the ensuing inbounds play, Douvier's pass was stolen by Little, who dished the ball underneath to freshman Jaren Lewis for a potential game-tying layup. After the ball rolled off the rim, Lewis grabbed the rebound and put up another shot that again rolled off the rim and found the hands of Douvier for a defensive rebound. ACU was forced to foul in the final 26 seconds, and Corpus did just enough from the line to keep the Wildcats at bay.
"Our guys played extremely hard, just like they did all season," Golding said. "I'm really proud of them for how hard they played. Effort was never a question with this group. We could have shot it better from the free throw line (12 of 24 Saturday afternoon), and we could have done some other things better that might have made a difference. But I'm proud of this team, and I'm grateful to them for everything they've done to get this program moving in the right direction."
Cooke - playing in his final game as a Wildcat - finished with 14 points on 5 of 6 shooting from the field (4 of 5 from 3-point range), while Franklin finished with 14 points and Lewis 11 for ACU.
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