JOE GOLDING POSTGAME INTERVIEW WITH GRANT BOONE
ABILENE - The Abilene Christian men's basketball team recorded its third-straight blowout victory Tuesday night, capturing a 93-76 win over an Incarnate Word team that came into the week on a five-game winning streak.
The win lifted ACU's overall and Lone Star Conference marks to 8-7 and 1-5, while the second-place Cardinals fell to 9-6 and 5-2.
The Wildcats never trailed and were led by their starting five of seniors
Eric Lawton,
Elliott Lloyd,
Dosh Simms and
Steven Werner, and junior
Cornelius Cammock, each of who reached double figures in scoring and accounted for 86 points.
Lloyd was 5-of-9 from the field and 4-of-8 from 3-point range to lead all players with a career high of 24 points, while Lawton, his partner in the backcourt hit 7-of-13 in finishing with 18 points and nine assists.
From the post, Simms recorded a career-high 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Werner added 16 in the paint and Cammock contributed 11.
Freshman
Parker Wentz – with seven points – was the lone ACU bench player to score tonight.
In addition to hitting their shots from all over the court, the Wildcats also recorded their best night of the season from the free-throw line in hitting 23-26 attempts (.885). ACU began the week ranked ninth in the LSC with a .612 free-throw percentage, but Lloyd went 10-of-12, Werner 4-of-4 and Lawton 3-of-4.
The Wildcats shot an impressive .633 (19-30) in the first half to take a 20-point 55-35 lead into the break and was helped along by 12-of-13 shooting (.923) from the free-throw line. Lawton, Lloyd and Werner all reached double-figures by the break, while Kyle Hittle and Andrea Corley paced the Cardinals with eight points apiece.
Hittle went on to lead UIW with 16 points and Corley finished with 14, while Lyn'Dale Brown and Dionelle Rucker each chipped in 15.
A jumper by Rucker at the 16:32 mark of the second half trimmed ACU's lead to 14, but the Cardinals would get no closer as the home team responded with layups from Cammock and Simms along with two foul shots from Lloyd to push its lead back over 20. Then with 12:27 to go Lloyd buried a 3-pointer that extended the ACU advantage to 26 at 75-49.
UIW wouldn't get back within 20 points until its final possession when Hittle hit a trey with 12 ticks left on the clock.
The Wildcats return to action Saturday at 3 p.m. at Texas A&M-Kingsville (8-5, 4-2 LSC).
