SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Freshman guard Augustine Ene and graduate student guard Sam Burmeister set respective personal bests in points in the University of the Incarnate Word's 66-54 loss to Northwestern State Wednesday evening from the McDermott Center.
 
Ene scored a career-high 13 points on 50 percent shooting (5-for-10), while Burmeister – for the second game in a row – set a new season mark, leading the Cardinals with 19 points on 47 percent shooting (7-for-15).
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Northwestern State (4-22 overall, 1-14 SLC) took an early five-point lead (7-2), culminated by a steal by Malik Metoyer and a jumper from Ishmael Lane, but UIW (5-20, 0-15) battled back and tied the contest at 7-all following a pair of free throws made by Devin Wyatt.
 
Tied at 9-9, UIW used a 7-2 run to take a five-point lead (16-11), highlighted by a Charles Brown III steal and a fastbreak layup from Burmeister.
 
After C.J. Jones' layup cut the Cardinals' lead to one, Cody Graham pushed ahead following a defensive rebound and sent in a beautiful alley-oop dunk to Ene to put the hosts back up by three (22-19) with 8:04 left in the opening half.
 
A pair of Shawn Johnson free throws put UIW back up by five, but NWST scored 14 of the next 18 points to put it ahead by five (33-28). Lane's three-pointer at the buzzer put the Demons ahead by six (38-32) at the break.
 
The Demons led by as many as nine early in the second half before the Cardinals chipped away and cut the deficit to one (47-46), as Ene had four points and a steal, and Christian Peevy also scored four points, including a put-back dunk that cut the deficit to two (43-41) at the halfway point.
 
UIW could not take the lead, however, as NWST's Lane hit a gut-wrenching three-pointer that put the visitors up by five (54-49) with under five minutes left in regulation. UIW came as close as four, following a Burmeister trey with 3:14 remaining, but the Cardinal offense went cold, as NWST scored the final eight points.
 
LEADERS

Burmeister led the Cardinals with 19 points, with 14 of his points coming in the first half. Ene scored seven of his career-high 13 points in the second half, as he also finished with a personal-best four steals. Peevy came off the bench to score eight points and joined Brown III. The latter led UIW with eight rebounds.
 
Lane registered a double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Demons., while Czar Perry scored 16 points off the bench.
 
UP NEXT

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

STAY TUNED

The Cardinals return home for the final two games of the season: HBU on Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. and Abilene Christian next Saturday, Mar. 3 at 3 p.m.

To purchase tickets, contact UIW Ticket Sales Coordinator Alma Lara at 210-805-3012.
 
For the most up-to-date information on Incarnate Word Athletics visit uiwcardinals.com. Be sure to follow Incarnate Word Athletics on Twitter @UIWAthletics and like Incarnate Word Athletics on Facebook at UIW Athletics.