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Feb. 28, 2009

Box Score

Abilene, Texas – The West Texas A&M Buffaloes entered Saturday night’s game at Abilene Christian knowing that a win would guarantee them a berth in the Lone Star Conference postseason tournament.

However, a 62-61 loss at ACU’s Moody Coliseum, combined with Tarleton State’s 70-65 upset win over Angelo State, brought an end to the Buffaloes’ season, as they fall into fifth place in the LSC South race. Only the top four teams in each division advance to the LSC postseason tourney.

The loss ends WTAMU's season at 16-11 overall, 6-6 LSC South, while ACU finishes the year at 10-16 overall, 4-8 in LSC South action.

As soon as the ball went up for the opening tip, senior guard Kyle Shields etched his name in the WT record book by making his 116th career appearance and moving atop that chart.

After a tight first 10 minutes of play, the Buffs opened a 24-19 lead.

However, the Wildcats went on a 10-0 run late in the half to take a 29-24 lead. A layup by WT post Fabrice Tafo at the buzzer narrowed the margin to 29-26.

Contributing to the Buffs’ deficit was the fact that they hit just three of eight free throws in the first half.

The Buffs’ offense got rolling in the second half as they overcame a 10 point deficit. Kyle Shields, who was held scoreless in the first half, made a layup to cap a 13-0 run and put WT ahead, 46-41 with just over 12 minutes to play.

ACU then reeled off five straight points, with a Kevin White layup tying the score, 46-46.

WT’s Justin Johnson then hit a three-pointer at the 10:03 mark to put the Buffs back on top, 49-46. A Nick Burns three-pointer capped a lengthy possession which saw the Buffaloes nab three offensive rebounds to elevate the margin to 52-46.

Up to the nine-minute mark of the half, the Buffs’ had hit 50 percent of their field goal opportunities.

Another Shields layup with 6:51 to play gave the Buffs a 56-51 lead, but the Wildcats answered with a three-pointer to trim the gap to just two points.

Clint McFall then nailed his fifth three-pointer of the contest to open the WT lead to 59-54. Shields then followed with another driving layup to give the Buffs a 61-54 lead with 3:53 to play.

ACU’s Donte Adams narrowed the gap to 61-56 with just over two minutes remaining.  The Wildcats continued the comeback, going on a 6-0 run over the final 1:23 with Riley Lambert hitting a three-pointer with 29 seconds to play, giving the Wildcats a 62-61 lead and driving a dagger into the Buffs' postseason hopes.

“We had our chances and for the second time we didn’t get it done,” said WT head coach Rick Cooper. “I hate this for our team, but we just aren’t playing very well. And this isn’t the time of year for that to happen.

“Give ACU credit, they closed the game strong and whipped us down the stretch.”

Senior Clint McFall hit 5-of-10 three pointers to lead WT scoring with 19 points. Shields and Burns each finished the game with 11 points, six assists, while Bijan Dotson also tallied 11 points. Niko Stylianou grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. As a team, the Buffs shot 41.4 percent from the floor, 37.5 percent from three-point range, but made just 37.0 percent from the foul stripe.

“This was very disappointing for our seniors,” Cooper continued. “I’m upset, too. But that’s athletics and one of life’s lessons. “We’ll figure out what we did right, and what we did wrong this season, and we’ll improve ourselves for next year.”

Abilene Christian was led by Ean Wagner’s 18 points and Dante Adams’ 17-point total. Kendrick Johnson had a team-high eight rebounds. The Wildcats made 40.0 percent from the field, 39.6 percent from behind the arc and 47.4 percent from the free throw line.