ABILENE, Texas – Junior Josh Nzeakor scored a team-high 18 points, but Lamar University was unable to slow down a hot-shooting Abilene Christian squad falling to the Wildcats, 74-69, Wednesday evening at Moody Coliseum. The loss drops LU a game back of the Wildcats after the two entered the contest in a tie for seventh in the Southland standings.
 
ACU finished the night shooting better than 53 percent from the field (26-of-49), including eight three-pointers. While the Wildcats were hot on one end of the floor, Big Red struggled to find its rhythm finishing 21-of-60 (.350) from the field, but 10 of their 21 field goals came from three-point range.
 
The Cardinals outrebounded their hosts by one but gained a 14-4 edge in offensive rebounds which led to a 12-4 advantage in second chance points. LU was hurt by turnovers Wednesday, but not by the overall number of turnovers. The Cardinals turned the ball over fewer times than Abilene Christian, but failed to convert those turnovers into points. ACU turned the ball over three more times than the Red and White but finished the night with three more points off turnovers.
 
Nzeakor lead a quartet of Cardinals in double figures Wednesday. Senior Zjori Bosha finished the night with 15 points and six rebounds, while senior James Harrison added 12. Junior Nick Garth came off the bench to chip in 10.
 
ACU's Jalone Friday took game-high honors with 24 points and 10 rebounds. The Wildcats' Jaren Lewis and Tevin Foster each added 12.
 
The start of the game was very different from how the final stats ended up. After ACU hit the first basket of the night they went cold, while LU knocked down five of its first nine attempts. The opening salvo was keyed by two Harrison three-pointers as LU built an early seven-point lead, 13-6, but ACU responded. The Wildcats rattled off a 9-2 run to pull even less than four minutes later.
 
After a Drake Green three to pull within a point the Cardinals rattled off a run of their own (8-0) to build a nine-point lead with 5:20 remaining in the half, but the Wildcats again had an answer. Just like they had done earlier, the Wildcats responded immediately. The home team wiped out LU's lead in less than three minutes. ACU pulled within a point, 31-30, on a Friday jumper in the paint. The Wildcats reclaimed the lead for the first time since the game's opening basket on a Hayden Farquhar three-pointer with 1:28 remaining in the half. ACU capped 17-4 run with a Jaylen Franklin basket to take a four-point lead, 36-32, into the locker room.
 
The Cardinals opened the second half with a T.J. Atwood three-pointer and pulled even at 37 less than three minutes into the second on a Nzeakor basket. Unfortunately, the Cardinals were unable to wrestle the lead away from ACU.
 
The Wildcats responded to LU's surge with one of their own. ACU outscored the Cardinals, 15-6, over the next seven minutes of the game to push their advantage back to nine points. LU once again found itself back within striking distance following a Garth three-pointer. Garth's basket pulled LU with three, 54-51, with nearly eight minutes remaining in the contest. The Cards trimmed the deficit to two before ACU again surged back out in front by nine, 63-54, with 3:16 left to play.
 
The Cardinals pulled within four points on two Garth free throws 46 seconds to play, but ACU took care of business at the free throw line down the stretch. LU trimmed the lead down to a single-point, 70-69, following an and-one from Nzeakor with just eight seconds on the clock but Tevin Foster followed by hitting two free throws at the other end of the floor. The Wildcats closed out the scoring with two free throws from Jaren Lewis.
 
The Cardinals will be back in action Saturday when they return home to host Stephen F. Austin. The game against the Lumberjacks will tip off at 4:30 p.m. from the Montagne Center. It can be heard live on Newstalk 560 and seen on ESPN3.
 
-LU CARDINALS-