ABILENE – The Abilene Christian basketball teams reach the midway point of their respective Lone Star Conference seasons this week with back-to-back doubleheaders Tuesday and Saturday night against Angelo State.
The first twin bill takes place tomorrow at Moody Coliseum beginning at 5:30 p.m. with the rematches scheduled for the Junell Center. ACU's
Grant Boone will broadcast all four contests locally on KSLI 1280 AM, and live video of Tuesday's home games will be provided via the ACU Sports page at YoeTV.org.
ACU's men's team (7-9, 1-7 LSC) starts the week in search of a fresh start after a flurry of technical calls went against the Wildcats in a 62-53 loss Saturday to No. 6 Tarleton State.
The downfall began with 3:48 to play when Zach Williams drove a suddenly wide-open lane only to miss a dunk. He was whistled for a technical foul for hanging onto the rim. Chris Harrell hit 1 of 2 free throws to cut ACU's lead to 49-46.
Tarleton State's Brian Word then gave Tarleton State the lead for good two minutes later when he grabbed a rebound of his own miss and stuck it back to give the Texans a 52-51 lead. That play lit head coach
Joe Golding's fuse as he complained to the officials that Word went over Eric Kibi's back to get the rebound.
On the offensive end of the floor, Kendall Durant turned the ball over, and on the inbounds pass, Little was whistled for a technical foul when he slapped at the ball while it was in Harrell's hands. Harrell then hit 3 of 4 free throws with 27 seconds to play to give the Texans a 55-51 lead.
When the Wildcats brought the ball up the floor, Bell and Wilson collided at the top of the key with no foul called, and that set Golding off. He was whistled for two technical fouls and ejected, giving Tarleton State four free throws.
Harrell made all four to give the Texans a 59-51 lead with 22 seconds to play and that was the ballgame.
Three days earlier at Texas A&M-Commerce, the Wildcats pulled out a 92-79 win in overtime – a game in which Antonio Bell tied a season high with 21 points on 5 of 8 shooting from the floor and 8 of 10 shooting from the free-throw line.
Bell, who had 14 points in the loss to the Texans, has reached double digit scoring figures in seven of his last eight games to lift his season average to 12.4 points per game. Bell also has dished out the most assists of any Wildcat with 46.
Armani Williams and Kibi have played well since their returns from suspension. Williams averaged 11.0 points per game in last week's contests, while Kibi came up a rebound shy of a double-double vs. the Lions.
Despite claiming four players averaging more than 10 points per game – led by Keene Coleman's 15.6 ppg – Angelo State's men's team has struggled against the conference in getting out to a 1-7 start (7-10 overall). And like the Wildcats, the Rams first conference win was achieved last week vs. Commerce, which snapped an eight-game losing streak that followed a 6-2 start.
The Rams are shooting slightly better than 40 percent from the floor as a team, including 33 percent from 3-point range, but have routinely come up short at the foul line in hitting less than 65 percent of their free throws.
Winners of five of its last seven, the Angelo State women's team enters this week with records of 8-7 and 6-3 following a 61-50 victory over Commerce. The Rambelles are led by Paige Weishuhn's 11.4 points per game and Haylee Oliver's 11.3 scoring average off the bench. Lauren Holt serves as the Belles' leading rebounder with 6.4 boards per game and is second to Weishuhn (22) with 18 blocks.
The Wildcats (7-8, 2-7 LSC) counter with a healthy Mack Lankford and
Kelsey Smith. Lankford returned to action Wednesday night as she scored seven points in eight minutes of ACU's win at Commerce, and then tallied 31 points Saturday vs. Tarleton State. It was Lankford's sixth career 30-point game and second this season.
Smith – ACU's leading rebounder with 6.9 boards per game – has registered two double doubles over her last three games, including a 20-point, 11-rebound effort against the Lions. Earlier in the month she dropped a season best 28 points in the loss at Kingsville, and against Tarleton she managed 18 points despite playing just 22 minutes due to foul trouble.
The ACU and Angelo State offenses appear to be evenly matched on paper as both are shooting 40 percent from the field and averaging a nick above 70 points per game. But the Wildcats definitely have an advantage on the boards as the Belles are pulling down just 33.2 per game compared to ACU's 42.0.
Angelo State's strength, however, still appears to be on defense as its forcing the opposition into 19.3 turnovers per game.
Live stats links for Tuesday's games can be found on the front and schedule pages at ACUSports.com.
