ABILENE, Texas – Behind a game-high 23 points from Jalin Hart and a season-tying high of 16 points from Sam Burmeister, the UIW men's basketball team defeated Abilene Christian, 89-75, Wednesday evening from Moody Coliseum.

HOW IT HAPPENED

UIW (12-16 overall, 7-10 SLC) held a couple of three-point leads in the early goings before ACU (13-15 overall, 7-10 SLC) took a 7-5 lead. After Burmeister's layup knotted the game at 7-all, ACU outscored UIW 8-3 to take a five-point advantage, 15-10, with 13:12 left in the opening half.

A Wildcat layup gave the hosts a six-point lead, but the Cardinals tied the game in the blink of an eye with triples from Shawn Johnson and Burmeister. After an ACU three-pointer to put the Wildcats up by three, 24-21, with 9:20 remaining, UIW used a 16-4 run to take its largest lead of the game, 37-28, with 5:28 to go in the half. A Tyler Singleton jumper gave UIW a double-digit lead, 43-32, and the Cardinals led at the break with a nine-point advantage, 43-34. Burmeister scored a half-high 12 points.

UIW led the entire second half, but things got a little hairy midway through the half. With the Cardinals up by six, the Wildcats got a three-pointer from Hayden Farquhar and a layup from Jaren Lewis as UIW's lead was cut to one, 61-60, with 9:15 left in regulation. But UIW scored nine-straight points to take a 10-point lead and held the Wildcats without a field goal for nearly four minutes in a crucial part of the game. ACU came as close as nine points the remainder of the game.

LEADERS

Hart's 23 points marked the ninth 20-plus point game for the junior transfer. Burmeister tied his season high of 16 points on a strong night off the bench. Johnson scored 14 points and nearly registered his fifth double-double with a game-high nine rebounds. Jorden Kite added 11 and Myles Thornton was perfect from the floor, scoring five points in seven minutes. As a team, the Cardinals shot 62 percent from the floor.

Hayden Howell scored 16 points to lead ACU, while B.J. Maxwell and Farquhar added 13 and 12 points, respectively. The Wildcats shot 51 percent from the floor.

UP NEXT

UIW concludes the season at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

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