LSC Men's Championship: A&M-C punches ticket for final with 70-65 win over ACU
Kevin Widemond hit a critical 3-point basket down the stretch and then nailed two free throws in the final seconds to lead Texas A&M-Commerce to another upset win in the Lone Star Conference Tournament after a 70-65 win over Abilene Christian in the semifinals Friday night at Bruin Field House.
The Lions (14-15), the fourth-seed from the North Division, previously upset the No. 1 seed West Texas A&M in Wednesday's quarterfinal round. Although they struggled in the regular season to record only 12 wins, the Lions are just one win away from an LSC Tournament championship and an automatic berth in the South Central Regional Tournament.
A&M-Commerce will play the winner of Friday night's second semifinal game between Central Oklahoma and Tarleton State.
While Widemond scored 14 points, dished out nine assists and made clutch shots in the end, the Lions were led by Scooby Johnson, who scored 19 points despite battling a rib injury that even forced him to the locker room at one point in the first half.
Lance Jackson also came off the bench to score 12, while Derrick Darkis scored eight points, but none bigger than a 3-pointer with 1:05 remaining in the game and the shot clock down to two seconds, which gave the Lions a five-point advantage.
Abilene Christian falls to 20-9 and now must hold out hope for a spot in the regional tournament.
But the Wildcats, despite four players in double figures, couldn't make enough shots in the final three minutes, missing 11 of their last 12 field goal attempts in the final four minutes.
Cameron Holson led the Wildcats with 15 points and seven rebounds, while Dejan Sencanski scored 14. Point guard Corwin Ragland, who had only been held under double-figures in scoring four times this season, had just four points, the fewest against any LSC opponent this season.
The Lions, who avenged a Jan. 12 regular-season loss to ACU in an LSC crossover game, surged ahead to a 40-33 lead and appeared ready to push the lead even more Widemond's 3-point attempt on a fast break rimmed out and Jacobi Jackson missed an easy put-back. That led to a Wildcats fast-break, ending in Sencanski's layup, which proved to be the start of an 11-0 run. Cameron Holson's 3-pointer from the left wing gave the Wildcats a 44-40 lead with 1ook over, going on an 11-0 run to lead 44-40 with 13:17 to play.
The Lions settled down and even regained the lead, 49-48 with just less than 10 minutes remaining. But ACU grabbed the momentum back on a four-point play by Holson, who was fouled while connecting on a 3-pointer with 8:25 remaining. The Wildcats led 55-50, but five straight points by the Lions pulled the game even again.
A fade-away jumper by Sencanski gave the Lions a 57-55 lead but Johnson tied the score again on a powerful layup with 4:45 to go.
The teams traded 3-point baskets on the next two possessions with Holson drilling a baseline trey, answered by Johnson's 3-pointer at the top of the key.
The Lions regained the lead after a block by Widemond led to a driving layup by Leonard Bishop Jr. with 3:46 to play.
After a missed 3-point shot from Sencanski, Widemond pushed the lead to five on a 3-pointer from the right wing.
Although ACU's Brandon Callahan answered with a 3-pointer on the next possession, the Lions came right back with Darkis' big shot with the shot clock running down.
In the first half, both teams kept it close with A&M-Commerce holding the largest lead at five, 20-15. ACU's largest lead at any point in the half was only three. The Wildcats took a 29-28 halftime lead over the Lions, who struggled early from beyond the arc, hitting just 1-of-9 3-point attempts.
In the second half, A&M-Commerce hit 4-of-5 from 3-point range, with three of those occurring in the final minutes of the game.
A&M-C QUOTES
Head Coach Sam Walker
Opening statement...
"We made a lot of mistakes offensively and we had trouble in the second half stopping them from scoring. We just kept battling through adversity. We'd get up and they'd battle back on us and it became kind of a see-saw battle. I thought at about the six-minute mark, I thought our guys, and it wasn't anything I said to them or any certain play we were running, I thought we just didn't want to lose the ball game."
Derrick Darkis
On hitting a big shot late in the contest...
"It's indescribable. My coach has had faith in me the whole season and my team has had faith in me to knock down big shots. So I was just relaxed, I thought that if I missed it we would get the offensive rebound."
ACU QUOTES
Head Coach Jason Copeland
Opening statement...
"I want to commend Texas A&M-Commerce. Sam [Walker] did and excellent job of getting his team ready to play. I hate to say it, but I think they just played harder than we did tonight. I'm not saying our guys didn't compete, they just had a little more bounce in their step and a little more fire in their belly. You've got to commend them for that."
Cameron Holson
"They just did a great job. Every time it felt like were going to pull away from them, I felt like we just gave them a few good shots there, and they just came right back at us. We just never could get up far enough o put them away and scare them enough. They were fearless pretty much is the way it felt like and we played with a little fear in us and I think that was the difference in the game."
A&M-Commerce Notes
Texas A&M-Commerce trailed at halftime for only the sixth time all season. The Lions are now 3-3 with a halftime deficit. Earlier in the year, the Lions led at the half in 17 consecutive games . . . The Lions are now 24-25 in 49 conference tournament games . . . A&M-Commerce is 3-0 against ACU in the LSC Tournament, posting wins in 1975, 1990 before Friday's win . . . A&M-Commerce head coach Sam Walker is now 2-0 in semifinal games in the LSC tournament . . . After failing to record a block shot against West Texas A&M in the quarterfinals, the Lions had three blocks Friday night, all occurring in the final five minutes of regulation . . . The tandem of Widemond and Scooby Johnson scored in double digits for the 23rd time this season . . . The Lions had seven turnovers in the first half against ACU, but turned the ball over just four times in the second half.
Abilene Christian Notes
- ACU scored the first points of the evening on a three-point shot from the left wing by Cameron Holson. The Wildcats fell to 11-3 on the season when scoring first after tonight's loss.
- Abilene Christian entered tonight's game 17-1 when leading at
the half. The only loss came to Central Oklahoma on Dec.
1. ACU took a 29-28 lead into the break against Texas
A&M-Commerce.
- The 29 points at halftime marked only the fifth time all season the Wildcats have scored less than 30 points in the first half all season. The last game ACU was held under 30 was on Feb. 20 against Tarleton State when they tallied 24 in a game they went on to lose, 66-63.
- Dejan Sencanski, Corwin Ragland and Brandon Callahan, ACU's top-three scorers on the season, were all held under their season scoring averages. That has happened to ACU only five times this season with the Wildcats being 1-4 in those games.
- The 65 point total for ACU was its third-lowest of the season. In 14 games this season, including tonight's semi-final, the Wildcats were held under their scoring average 87 PPG and in those games they are 5-9.
