PINEVILLE, La. – The Louisiana Christian University men's basketball team opened its first trip through Red River Athletic Conference play with a tight contest against Our Lady of the Lake where neither team held a double-digit lead, and in the end, it was the Wildcats that finished strong to take an 87-81 win over the Saints Thursday night at H.O. West Fieldhouse.
 
Neither team had a lead of greater than one possession during the opening nine minutes of the contest until the Wildcats got two scores in a row, a steal and fast break lay-up by Ferontay Banks to break an 18-18 tie, and then, several possessions later, a put-back lay-up by Jakobey Hitchens that gave LCU a 22-18 lead 10:40 remaining before halftime.
 
LCU continued the push, extending that four-point thrust into an 8-2 run to give the Wildcats its largest lead of the contest for the first time with just less than nine minutes left as a KJ Bilbo lay-up put LCU up 26-20. After three straight OLLU points, Bilbo extended his range beyond the three-point arc to get the Wildcat lead back up to six points at 29-23 with 6:15 left in the half.
 
But it was the Saints that finished the half strong, going on an 11-2 run to turn a 33-29 LCU lead with just less than 4:30 left before halftime into a 40-35 OLLU lead following a pair of Saints free throws with 1:43 left before the break, marking OLLU's largest lead in the contest. The Saints took a 45-41 lead to the halftime locker room.
 
The back-and-forth continued with OLLU in front until another three-pointer by Bilbo sent LCU off on a 7-2 run to turn a 47-43 Saints lead into a 50-49 Wildcat lead when Kae'ron Baker pulled up for a fast break mid-range jumper with just less than 14 minutes left in the contest.
 
After 11 ties and 15 lead changes, the 16^th and final lead change put the Wildcats up for good as KJ Bilbo drained another three-pointer with less than 5:30 left put LCU up 70-68. After an OLLU miss on the Saints ensuing possession, Malik Cooper put the Wildcats up two possessions with a put-back that gave the Wildcats up 74-68 lead with less than five minutes left.
 
The biggest shot in the contest came with less than 1:30 left. Following an OLLU three that cut the LCU lead down to one point at 81-80, Ferontay Banks kicked out to Jordan Adebutu, and the newcomer drained the three-pointer to answer the Saints score and put the Wildcats back up two possessions. Defense and free throws down the stretch helped the Wildcats pull away to the final margin.
 
"It's always good to open conference with a win," said LCU head men's basketball coach Reni Mason. "We have to improve our defensive rebounding with late game offensive execution to be successful in this league. We were fortunate to win tonight."
 
After a slow start, Kae'ron Baker finished the game strong with a game-high 19 points and came one rebound away from a double-double as he finished with nine boards. KJ Bilbo hit several key shots as he also teetered on the edge of a double-double, finishing with 16 points, including three made three-pointers, and nine rebounds as well. Jordan Adebutu, getting his first start since joining the team over Christmas break, had his best game as a Wildcat by hitting three of his five shots from long range to finish with 13 points to go with three rebounds and three assists. Malik Cooper hit all four of his free throw attempts, all of which were key shots, to round out the leading scorers with ten points. Cooper also grabbed four rebounds, three of which were on the offensive end. Ferontay Banks also filled up the stat sheet with nine points and a team high six assists.
 
OLLU hit three more shots from the field than LCU, 30-27, and one more three-pointer, 9-8. But the Wildcats took advantage of getting to the free throw line, going 25-of-33 from the stripe while the Saints went 12-of-23 at the charity stripe.
 
The Wildcats (6-6, 1-0 RRAC) look for their third straight win on Saturday as Huston-Tillotson comes to Pineville to close out the first full weekend of RRAC play. Tip-off of Saturday's game against the Rams (4-10, 2-0 RRAC) is set for 4:00 P.M., or about 25 minutes following the women's game, at H.O. West Fieldhouse.