PINEVILLE, La. – The Louisiana Christian University men's basketball team roared back from a 16-point second half deficit to tie the game with a minute remaining, but a shot with three seconds left gave William Carey the points needed as the Wildcats dropped a 75-72 decision to the Crusaders Saturday afternoon at H.O. West Fieldhouse.
 
Defense kept the Wildcats in the game throughout the first half as LCU struggled to hit shots, limiting the Crusaders on their chances while LCU tried to dial in the range. However, a 13-2 William Carey run midway through the first half helped the Crusaders open an 11-point lead at 33-22 with 6:24 left before halftime. The Wildcats would get the deficit down to six points as Konnor DeJean hit a pair of free throws with 3:13 left before the break to make the score 37-31 Crusaders. Carey scored the final four points of the first half and took a 41-31 lead into the break.
 
Right out of the break, William Carey went on an 8-2 push to open the lead to the largest of the contest at 49-33 with 17:30 to go in the game. But ever so slowly, the Wildcats started to pull the deficit back. With less than 5:30 remaining, it was still a ten-point hole to climb out of as Kae'ron Baker got to the rim and laid the ball in to make the score 70-62.
 
With less than 3:10 left and trailing 72-64, Jakobey Hitchens hit a mid-range jump shot to get the deficit down to six. After a missed three on WCU's end, Bailey Hardy found himself open above the arc and drained a three-pointer to make it a three-point game. An offensive foul by the Crusaders gave the Wildcats a chance to tie the game, and LCU took advantage as Hitchens drained a three of his own to get the Wildcats back even with the Crusaders at 72-72 with just less than 1:30 left in the game. LCU had a chance to take the lead as Carey missed another shot and the Wildcats grabbed the rebound. But a missed three on LCU's end was rebounded by the Crusaders with less than 30 seconds left. WCU would hit a three-pointer with 3.2 seconds left to take the lead, and with the Wildcats having to go the length of the court, the buzzer sounded before a shot was taken to try and tie the score again.
 
Kae'ron Baker hit ten shots, including four threes, to finish the game with a game-high 28 points. He was also credited with four assists, four steals and three rebounds in the contest. Two of Bailey Hardy's four made shots came from above the arc as he finished the game with 11 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Malik Cooper finished the game with ten points and five rebounds. The Wildcats forced 22 Crusader turnovers compared to just 11 for LCU, but the Wildcats struggled from the field, hitting 34.2% of their shots in the contest while WCU hit 54.7% overall to make up for the disparity in the number of shots as LCU took 20 more attempts than WCU did in the contest.
 
The Wildcats (4-4) head to Monroe for a mid-week exhibition, the team's final exhibition contest of the season, against a NCAA Division I team in Louisiana-Monroe. Tip-off of Wednesday's exhibition against the Warhawks (4-4) is set for 6:30 P.M. at Fant-Ewing Coliseum and can be watched live on ESPN+.