JOE GOLDING AND PARKER WENTZ INTERVIEW
ABILENE – The Abilene Christian men's basketball team continues its decades-long regional rivalry with Dallas Baptist Saturday night in the season opener for both programs. Tip-off at the Burg Center is scheduled for 6 p.m. with the rematch due to take place at Moody Coliseum the night of Tuesday, Nov. 20.
The Wildcats lead their all-time series with DBU, 13-9, following last year's home and road split. ACU lost the first game in Dallas, 80-72, and then survived a 3-point shot at the buzzer in holding onto an 85-82 victory.
Although those games took place just last season, they might as well be considered ancient history since no one except the ACU coaching staff is still around to remember them. As for redshirt senior
Desmond Woodberry – the only returning Wildcat from last year's squad - he did not participate either due to an early-season injury.
ACU's victory vs. the Patriots evened its record at 6-6 as the calendar flipped over to 2012, but there was little to celebrate afterward as the Wildcats finished the season 6-10 and missed the Lone Star Conference tournament with a ninth-place record of 4-14.
Head coach
Joe Golding responded to the poor showing in his first year by bringing in 11 new players, many of which played previously for NCAA D-I schools. Senior center
Steven Werner transferred to ACU from Sam Houston State, and at 6-foot-8, could be one of the top big men in the league, while the backcourt duo of
Eric Lawton (Arkansas-Little Rock) and
Elliott Lloyd (Northern Colorado) could give the Wildcats two of the top guards in the LSC. Junior forward
Cornelius Cammock from Paris Junior College also figures to play a large role for the Wildcats.
This group of upperclassmen all started in the Baylor exhibition alongside freshman guard
Parker Wentz, who was one of the top prep players in the state last year at Trinity Christian High School in Lubbock.
Werner led the Wildcats at Baylor with 15 points on 3 of 5 shooting from the field and was 9 of 11 from the free throw line. Lloyd and Lawton each finished with 12 points, while Wentz finished with 11 points on 4 of 6 shooting (2 of 4 from 3-point range).
Transfer forward
Cornelius Cammock finished with eight points, and freshman swingman
Tyler Rogers had seven points in 22 minutes off the bench.
ACU's three guards all played 30 or more minutes vs. the Bears. Cammock was on the court for 23 and Werner for 20. The Wildcats also gave extended minutes to Hartford transfer
Charles White (11), freshman
T.J. Brown (11) and Woodberry (12).
DBU's seventh-year head coach Blake Flickner has guided his club to five straight winning seasons, and in 2011-12, the Patriots' finished at the top of the Heartland Conference in several statistical categories, including No. 1 in overall scoring offense (76.7 ppg).
Senior Nick Fox averaged 15.9 points per game last season for DBU and is their leading returning scorer.
