ABILENE, TEXAS – The Texas A&M-Kingsville men’s basketball team closed out the regular season with a tough, 80-70 loss at Lone Star Conference rival Abilene Christian on Sunday afternoon.

The Javelinas (12-15, 7-11) started the game well, but could not finish it out as they were held scoreless over the final 5:39 of the game. Meanwhile, the Wildcats (12-14, 4-12) kept their LSC Tournament bid alive with the win.

The Hoggies built up an early 10-4 lead after back-to-back jumpers by Robert Williams (Dallas/Kimball HS) with 16:13 left in the first half. The Wildcats stormed back by scoring the next nine points in the game. They would eventually build up a 29-18 lead in the half, before the Javs bounced back with a 15-5 run of their own. However, the Wildcats finished the half strong and took a 41-33 lead into the break.

ACU shot an incredible 69.2 percent from the field in the first half and made 4-of-5 three-point attempts. Armani Williams came off the bench to drain all three of his long range attempts.

In the second half, the Wildcats continued to shoot the ball well and led by as many as 14 points. The Javelinas made a push and closed to within four points on two occasions, the last coming with 5:39 left in the game on a Reid Wallace (Spring/Tomball HS) lay-up. Unfortunately, the Hogs missed all five of their shots and committed three turnovers in the final five minutes.

The game remained 74-70 in favor of the Wildcats from the 5:39 mark until 1:22 remained when Antonio Bell made a pair of free throws.

The Javelinas shot 44.8 percent from the field, made 8-of-22 from three-point range and were 10-for-12 at the foul line. Ryan Layssard (Opelousas, LA/Opelousas HS) had 16 points, five assists and three steals while Williams had 16 points and a team high six rebounds on 7-of-9 shooting from the field. Wallace added 10 points. The team forced 18 turnovers and grabbed 25 rebounds.

The Wildcats shot 64.4 percent from the field, made 5-of-9 three-point attempts and were 17-for-24 from the line. Zach Williams led the team with 14 points while Marc Little and Dosh Simms each had 11. Kendall Durant added nine points and six assists while Bell had 10 points and five assists. They forced 13 turnovers and grabbed 29 rebounds.

The Javelinas will now wait to find out who they play in the LSC Tournament on February 29.
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