PINEVILLE, La. – The Louisiana Christian University men's basketball team dug itself an early hole against (RV) LSU Shreveport and every time they tried to dig out of it, it was interrupted by the tweet of a whistle as the two teams combined to shoot 64 total free throws, 39 of which went to the visiting team, in the Wildcats 80-70 loss to the Pilots Thursday evening at H.O. West Fieldhouse.
 
LCU started out cold as LSUS opened a 6-0 before Kae'ron Baker worked his way to the stripe and hit a pair of free throws to get the Wildcats on the board. LCU's first made field goal came with 16:45 left in the first half as Baker stole the ball and found Ferontay Banks ahead of the pack for an easy lay-up to cut the deficit to two at 6-4. The Wildcats fought to keep contact with the Pilots, with a Jordan Adebutu lay-up cutting what at one time was a seven-point deficit down to three at 14-11 with 12:40 left in the half. But LSUS went on an 11-4 run immediately following that to open the first double digit lead of the game at 25-15. LCU responded with the next seven point as Bailey Hardy stole the ball and went the distance for a lay-up to kick off the run, which ended with Kae'ron Baker getting out on the break and finding Ferontay Banks open above the arc for a transition three to cut the Pilot lead to 25-22 with eight minutes left in the half. But LSUS scored the next eight to open the advantage back into double figures. The first half lead peaked at 14 points, 43-29, with 1:40 left before halftime. Baker ended the first half scoring with two more free throws to make the halftime score 43-31 Pilots.
 
The Pilot lead grew to as much as 16 points at out of the break at 60-44 with just less than 13 minutes left before LCU responded with a 13-4 run. That run was started as Ferontay Banks saw Jordan Adebutu cutting to the basket for a lay-up and ended when Bailey Hardy found Kae'ron Baker open above the arc for a three to cut the deficit to seven points, 64-57, with 7:50 left in the game. But it was at that point the game turned into a free throw shooting contest as 12 of LSUS's final 16 points over the final 7:36 came from the charity stripe while LCU scored seven of its final 13 points from the free throw line.
 
Even on a tough shooting night, Kae'ron Baker still hit his average, leading all scorers with 26 points as he took advantage of all the whistles to get to the line 15 times, hitting 13 free throws on the evening. Jordan Adebutu hit two shots from deep and finished with 17 points. Ferontay Banks was five-of-six from the field to round out the leading scorers at 11 points.
 
LCU took 11 more shots in the contest than LSUS, but only hit at a 35.4% clip as the team struggled to hit shots. The Wildcats were effective from the stripe, hitting 19 of their 25 attempts at the line. However, they were overwhelmed by the Pilots hitting 26 of their 39 free throw attempts, added on to a night where LSUS hit 44.4% from the field.
 
The Wildcats (9-11, 4-5 RRAC) look to rebound in the home finale on Senior Day on Saturday against in-Parish rival, #11 LSU Alexandria. Tip-off of Saturday's game against the Generals (14-4, 5-3 RRAC) is set for 4:00 P.M., or about 25 minutes following the end of the women's game, at H.O. West Fieldhouse. All fans are encouraged to wear orange for Saturday's contest.