ABILENE, Texas - Michael Loyd's technical free throw make with .17 seconds remaining allowed No. 11 Midwestern State to escape with a 79-78 win over Abilene Christian Tuesday night at Moody Coliseum.

The eery ending was precipitated by a furious ACU comeback as the Wildcats overcame a 16-point deficit with 5:00 to play and appeared to have forced the game into overtime when Antonio Bell bombed in a flat-footed triple to knot the game with less than a second to play.

"ACU is really physical and is a team that plays with a lot of pride," MSU coach Nelson Haggerty said. "They are dangerous and teams don't want to come in here and play. They are very tough and we're fortunate to come out of here with a win."

Abilene Christian's Da-Juan Cooper was judged to have left the bench prematurely to celebrate the game-tying buzzer beater and was ruled on the floor during play resulting in a technical foul.

Loyd stepped up a calmly rattled in the first free-throw attempt allowing the Mustangs to survive a horrific night at the charity stripe and a determined ACU closing effort.

"We didn't guard well at all in the second half. We really didn't," Haggerty said. "We lost our focus. To ACU's credit, they were really aggressive with the way they were getting the ball into the lane."

The Mustangs (17-2, 10-2) appeared to be on the way to an easy victory when David Terrell rocked the rim with his fourth slam dunk of the night to give MSU a commanding 75-59 lead with 8:00 to play.

But that would be the last field goal MSU would muster allowing the Wildcats to systematically work its way into the game. The Mustangs abetted by going 4-for-12 at the free throw line over the final five minutes.

For the game, the Mustangs managed a 17-for-35 effort (48.6 percent) at the free-throw line to keep the Wildcats in the game.

"It's been this way all year," Haggerty said. "Hopefully this is a wake up call for our guys. They need to have more focus on free throws. We're lucky enough to hit the one to win it."

Junior forward Anthony Harris delivered his second straight 20-point night and added six rebounds to lead the Mustangs, who lost the rebound effort for the second consecutive game and just the third time this season.

Loyd pitched in 14 points while JaMichael Rivers and David Terrell had 12 each.

Kendall Durant notched 21 points to lead Abilene Christian which fell to 10-11 on the season and to 2-9 in conference play.

Midwestern State returns to action Saturday night against Angelo State at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.