Box Score
They may be freshmen, but Louisiana College's
Kevin Cottonham and
Anthony Gaines, Jr. played like veterans in leading the Wildcats to a come-from-behind 67-65 victory over the University of Texas-Dallas at H. O. West Field House Thursday night.
The duo combined for 27 of their 36 points – 18 each – in the second half, as the Wildcats erased an 11-point deficit to gain possibly their biggest win of the season. The Comets had come into the game as leaders of the American Southwest Conference East Division with a 7-3 conference mark but fall to 7-4, 12-5 overall. With the win, LC improved to 4-6 in the ASC, 4-8 overall.
“Execute. We knew we had to execute,” Gaines said. “We run a lot of the same plays that they do. A win like this can really turn the season around.”
“It just feels goo to come away with the win,” Cottonham said. “We have to stay hungry.”
UT-Dallas seemed to gain control of the contest when junior Kyle Schleigh, who led the Comets with 24 points, scored to cap a 17-6 run and put his team up 50-39 with 11:45 to play.
The Wildcats responded with their own run, 14-3, and tied the game at 53-all when Cottonham drove and scored for LC. A few moments later, the Wildcats took their first lead of the game when senior Danny Sumner drove the left baseline and put in a layup to make the score 57-56 Wildcats with 4:55 left.
The final five minutes saw several lead changes before the Wildcats tied the game on a drive and score by Gaines to make it 65-65 with 1:17 to go. After a UT-Dallas miss, the Wildcats got their chance to take the lead and did so when Cottonham made a twisting drive through the lane to make it 67-65 LC with 10 seconds left. LC's defense would turn away the Comets' final shot attempts to hang on for a dramatic, hard-fought win.
The Wildcats had one of their best shooting nights of the season, hitting 29-of-52 for 56-percent. They also forced the Comets into 19 turnovers, 11 in the second half.
“We talked about it in the locker room – that we need to find some kind of identity,” Sumner said. “Our defense helped a lot. If nothing else, this win made a statement that we still want to play.”
Next up for the Wildcats is a Saturday matchup with the University of the Ozarks at 3 p.m. Saturday at H.O. West.
