ALEXANDRIA, La. – The Louisiana Christian University men's basketball team rode a big first half run to a 17-point halftime lead over Texas A&M-Texarkana, but the Wildcats had to fight off a big run by the Eagles and held on for an 83-77 win in the quarterfinals of the Red River Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship Tournament Sunday night at the Rapides Parish Coliseum.
The game started quite slow for the Wildcats, who found themselves trailing 6-0 and 9-2 in the game's opening moments. But that slow start quickly evaporated as a
KJ Bilbo three-pointer set off a 17-2 Wildcat run that ended when
Ferontay Banks found himself open above the arc and sank a three-pointer to put LCU up 19-11 with 11 minutes left in the first half.
After a bit of back-and-forth, the Eagles went on a bit of a push to cut the LCU lead down to four points at 23-19, but that's when
Kae'ron Baker was fouled attempting a three-point shot. The RRAC's Player of the Year calmly made all three free throws, kicking off a 9-0 run that was capped by a
Jordan Adebutu three-pointer on the fast break that put the Wildcats up 32-19. The two teams went score-for-score over the next few minutes until Baker was fouled on another three-point attempt, and again went three-for-three at the stripe to put LCU up 46-31.
Konnor DeJean's free throw capped the first half scoring as LCU took a 47-31 lead into the break.
But the RRAC's West Division Champs, trying to get back to the NAIA Tournament for a second straight season, would not go away without a fight. TAMUT opened the second half with an 8-0 run to get the LCU lead under double digits in less than two minutes. A pair of free throws by
Malik Cooper temporarily stymied the TAMUT run, but the Eagles scored the next four points to cut the Wildcats lead down to six points at 49-43 with just less than 17 minutes left in the game.
LCU eventually worked the lead back up to 12 points on a
Malik Cooper jumper with just more than 11 minutes left in the contest. TAMUT answered with six straight points to cut that lead in half before another jumper by Cooper and a pair of free throws by
Kae'ron Baker put the LCU lead back in double figures at 68-58 with less than 8:45 left. The Eagles scored the next eight points to make it a one-possession game with five minutes left, setting up a race to the finish to see who would advance. Another jumper by Cooper put the Wildcats up four, and then the biggest play of the game came a minute later as
Kae'ron Baker popped free, took in a pass and put up a three-point attempt that went in as he was hit and a foul was whistled, giving Baker the chance to double the lead from four points to eight in one possession. Baker converted the four-point play with 3:19 left which made the score 76-68 Wildcats. TAMUT would cut the lead back down to five several times over the closing minutes, and even had it down to four with one minute left, but the LCU defense held to clinch the victory.
Kae'ron Baker, the NAIA's leading scorer on the season, added to his average by scoring 29 points in the win, needing just 11 field goal attempts to get there while hitting 16 of his 17 attempts from the free throw line and three attempts from above the three-point arc.
Malik Cooper had one of his best games, hitting key jump shot after key jump shot in the second half and finished with 22 points to go with eight rebounds.
KJ Bilbo finished with nine points, five rebounds and three assists.
After shooting 50% in the first half, things quieted down for the Wildcats in the second half, especially above the arc. LCU finished the game hitting 46.3% from the field while holding the Eagles to 41.8%, including just 24% from three.
After making a run to the American Southwest Conference Tournament Final last season, the Wildcats (14-13) look to clinch a second straight trip to a Conference Championship Game on Monday when LCU takes on the other RRAC newcomer (RV) Xavier. Tip-off of Monday's semifinal game against the Gold Rush (22-5) is set for 7:30 P.M. at the Rapides Parish Coliseum.
