DALLAS – Dallas Baptist shot 50 percent from the field and hit 22 of 24 free throws Tuesday night as the Patriots knocked off the ACU Wildcats, 80-72, in a non-conference men's college basketball game at the Burg Center on the DBU campus.
ACU fell to 4-2 with the loss, while the Patriots improved to 5-3. The Wildcats will be back in action Saturday at 7 p.m. when they host Southwest Adventist at Moody Coliseum.
Tuesday night's game was close throughout as the teams ended the first 20 minutes with DBU holding a 31-28 lead. But the Patriots opened the second half with a 23-8 run over the first 7:19 that seemingly put the game on ice. Despite a couple of small ACU runs, DBU pushed its advantage to 19 points (61-42) with 8:22 to play on a jumper by Jordan McGowen.
But the Wildcats ripped off a quick 17-4 in less than five minutes to cut the lead to 65-59 with 4:03 left in the game.
Ben Warton got the run started with a jumper, followed by a 3-pointer from
Marc Little, a free throw from
Zach Williams, a 3-pointer from
Armani Williams, back-to-back jumpers from
Marc Little, a jumper from
Kendall Durant, and a final jumper from Little to cut the lead to six points.
But the Patriots – who shot 24 free throws to just eight for the Wildcats in the game – got a jumper and a 3-pointer before hitting 11 of their final 13 free throws of the game to seal the win.
Williams led the Wildcats with 17 points, five rebounds, two assists, two blocks and three steals, while
Eric Kibi had 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench. Williams and Little each had 11 points for the Wildcats, who hit just 30 of 75 shots from the field (40 percent), including just 6 of 23 from beyond the 3-point arc (26 percent).
DBU was led by McGowen, who had 22 points, 15 rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal, while hitting 8 of 13 shots from the floor. The Patriots were 26 of 52 from the floor for the game, including 6 of 13 from 3-point range (46.2 percent).
