STEPHENVILLE -- Tarleton State proved its defensive statistics were no fluke Wednesday night as the Texans coasted to an 83-63 win over ACU in Lone Star Conference South Division men's basketball action at Wisdom Gym.
The Texans entered the contest allowing just 55.2 points per game (No. 3 in NCAA Division II basketball) and allowing opponents to shoot just 35.9 percent from the floor (No. 2 in NCAA Division II basketball). And despite a brief scoring flurry from the Wildcats late in the game, the Texans lived up to their billing.
The Wildcats shot just 38.0 percent from the floor (19 of 50) and scored just 21 first-half points as the Texans blew out to a 43-21 lead at the break. Tarleton State scored the first eight points of the second half to make it a 51-21 game and the closest the Wildcats got after that was within 20 points on a couple of occasions inside the final five minutes of play.
Tarleton really put it away late in the first half when the Texans opened up a close game with a 22-6 run over the final 8:01 of the opening half. After ACU's
Eddie Thompson hit a jumper with 8:20 left in the half to cut TSU's lead to 21-15, the Texans got their game-winning run started.
Devon Hills -- who led the Texans with 23 points -- got the game-changing run started with a 3-pointer with 8:01 left in the half to push the Texans' lead to 24-15. Hills put the finishing touches on the run with a 3-pointer with one second left in the half to make it 43-21 at halftime.
ACU hit just seven total field goals in the first half (7 of 25, 28.0 percent) while the Texans hit 7 of 14 from 3-point range in the first half.
Thompson led all scorers with 24 points as he hit 7 of 14 field goals, including 5 of 10 from 3-point range.
Giordan Cole had 10 points of the bench for the Wildcats.
ACU is now 7-12 overall and 0-4 in the LSC South Division, while the Texans improve to 16-3 and 4-0. The Wildcats will be back in action Saturday at 4 p.m. when it hosts nationally ranked Midwestern State at Moody Coliseum.
