ALEXANDRIA, La. – The Louisiana Christian University men's basketball team didn't waver in the face of an 11-point second half deficit to a nationally-ranked LSU Shreveport team in the Finals of the Red River Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship Tournament, but the Wildcat run just couldn't get over the hump, dropping the contest to the #21 Pilots 69-63 Tuesday afternoon at the Rapides Parish Coliseum.
 
It was a slow start for the Wildcats, who found themselves trailing 14-6 just more than 4:30 into the contest. But Ferontay Banks found Malik Cooper in his favorite spot, at the elbow, for a jumper that went in and kick-started a 13-0 LCU run that got the Wildcats out front, capped off by a Bailey Hardy three-pointer which made the score 19-14 Wildcats with 12 minutes left in the opening period.
 
Over the next few minutes, LCU had an answer for every LSUS bucket to keep the Pilots at a distance. LCU got its largest lead of the game with just more than eight minutes left in the first half when Kae'ron Baker was fouled, and then the Pilot who committed the foul was called for a technical for arguing the call, awarding Baker four free throw attempts. Baker converted all four shots, giving the Wildcats a 25-18 lead. But from there, LSUS finished the half on a 13-3 run and a half-court heave at the buzzer went in for LSUS to give the Pilots the lead back, 31-28 right at the break.
 
LSUS hit a pair of free throws right out of the break to extend the lead out to five, but LCU immediately answered as D'Marcus Fugett hit a jumper on the Wildcats' ensuing possession, the first two of six straight points for LCU that gave the Wildcats the lead back. The push was capped by a put-back lay-up by KJ Bilbo that made it 35-34 Wildcats with 16:15 left in the contest.
 
But free throws over the next few possessions gave the Pilots the lead back for good as LSUS went on a 22-10 run to take their largest lead of the game at 56-45 with less than 8:30 left in the game. The Wildcats did not let the run get them down, answering right back with a 13-4 run that was started by a made jumper by Jordan Adebutu and when Malik Cooper made another base line jumper, the deficit was down to just two points at 60-58 with less than 3:45 left in the game, setting up a furious finish.
 
After LSUS got the lead back up to five, KJ Bilbo hit a three-pointer that got the score back down to just a single bucket at 63-61 with just more than two minutes left. However, LCU went cold down the stretch and LSUS pulled away at the free throw line to close out the game and end LCU's season.
 
KJ Bilbo finished his final game at LCU with a double-double of the season as he hit six-of-12 from the field, including three made three-pointers, for a team high 17 points to go along with ten rebounds. Even on a tough night shooting, Kae'ron Baker still finished with 15 points and closed out his time in orange and blue with 1,985 points, second most in program history. Malik Cooper went six-of-13 from the field to round out the leading scorers with 12 points.
 
A day after watching LSUS hit 20-of-29 from three for 69% from deep in their semifinal win over LSUA, LCU held LSUS to just five-of-20 from the land of plenty, a 25% clip. The Wildcats hit the same number of field goals in the game as the Pilots did, 22, and even hit one more three-pointer than LSUS, six to five. But the Pilots were able to get to the free throw line just a little bit more than LCU did as the seven-point advantage in free throws made with 11 more attempts in the Pilots favor pushing them over the edge.
 
Following the game, Kae'ron Baker and Malik Cooper were both named to the All-Tournament team.
 
The Wildcats complete their first season in the NAIA and Red River Athletic Conference with a 15-14 record overall and 8-7 in conference play.