Arkansas State men’s basketball weathered a second-half surge by Bethune-Cookman on Saturday afternoon inside the Ocean Center, scoring twice inside the final minute to earn an 86-85 win over the Wildcats in the first round of the Ro College Basketball Invitational.
The Red Wolves (19-16) led by as much as nine in the contest, but B-CU (17-17) scrapped back to take a one-score lead. Trailing by one with a minute to play, A-State knocked down a pair of key baskets to secure its first postseason tournament game since the 1991 NIT and advance to Monday’s quarterfinal round.
Five players scored in double figures, led by Freddy Hicks’ 21 points and nine rebounds – his third 20-point effort in the last four contests. Caleb Fields, appearing in his program-record 150th career game, went for 16 points, six rebounds and six assists.
Derrian Ford and Izaiyah Nelson each scored 12 points, with Nelson swatting away five blocks, while Taryn Todd scored 10 points.
A-State overcame 15 turnovers in the win and shot 52.6 percent from the field, including a 68.2-percent clip in the final 20 minutes.
Jakobi Heady led four Wildcats in double-digit scoring with 19 points. Derrick Carter-Hollinger Jr. scored 15 off the bench, while Dhashon Dyson added 14 and Zion Harmon scored 11 points. B-CU hit 48.6 percent from the field, including 50 percent in the second half.
The sides traded leads for the first 5-plus minutes of game clock until a Nelson dunk sparked an 8-0 run to put A-State on top 20-12. With under 8 minutes left in the half, Dyondre Dominguez picked up a loose ball and slammed it to put the Red Wolves’ lead at 28-19.
Bethune-Cookman pulled within two possessions with 5 minutes left in the half, but a pair of free throws by Hicks and lay-in by Dominguez - who scored his nine points in the first half – once more made it a nine-point affair with 3:33 left. The Wildcats clawed back to within 3, but Julian Lual ended the half with a layup at the buzzer to give the Scarlet and Black a 40-35 lead at the break.
A-State maintained the lead for most of the second half, stretching it back out to nine on a layup by Hicks with 7:55 to play. The Wildcats continued applying pressure, cutting it to 75-74 on a score by Elijah Hulsewe with less than five minutes left.
After the teams traded leads, Carter-Hollinger Jr. knocked down a trey with 1:37 left that made it 83-82 Wildcats. Ford then answered with a bucket off the glass to put A-State ahead by one with under a minute to play, and then Hicks hit a clutch basket with six seconds left to put his team ahead by three. Reggie Ward Jr. scored on a layup before time expired, but it was not enough to overtake the Red Wolves.
NEXT UP
The Red Wolves await the winner of a Sunday first-round bout between fifth-seeded Montana and 12th-seeded Presbyterian. Tip-off in Monday’s quarterfinal inside the Ocean Center is slated for 1 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast live on FloHoops (subscription required).
