POSTGAME INTERVIEW WITH HEAD COACH JOE GOLDING
LAS VEGAS –
Eric Lawton scored a career-high 29 points Sunday afternoon as the ACU Wildcats snapped a four-game losing streak with an 82-72 win over Florida Tech in the Las Vegas Desert Classic at Dolittle Coliseum.
The win pushes the Wildcats to 5-5 on the season, and gives them their first win since they opened Lone Star Conference play on Nov. 28 with a win over West Texas A&M in Canyon. ACU will now be off until Jan. 3 when it hosts Midwestern State in an LSC game at Moody Coliseum.
Lawton hit 11 of 16 shots from the floor, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range to lead the Wildcats with 29 points. The Wildcats had a good shooting day, hitting 28 of 55 shots from the field, including going 50 percent from 3-point range (10 of 20).
Freshman guard
Parker Wentz had 16 points for the Wildcats, going 4 for 7 from the field (all from beyond the 3-point arc) and hitting all four of his free throw attempts.
Steven Werner added 13 points from his post position, hitting 6 of 9 shots from the field and pulling down five rebounds.
Florida Tech is one of the top scoring teams in NCAA Division II basketball, but the Wildcats held the Panthers to just 28 first-half points as ACU took a 40-28 lead at the break. The Wildcats' lead eventually grew to as many as 18 points midway through the second half and ACU was never threatened in the game's final 20 minutes.
