ABILENE – Led by a suffocating defense, fast-paced offense, and non-stop vocalizing from head coach
Joe Golding, the Abilene Christian men's basketball team dominated Arlington Baptist from start to finish in its 87-42 victory Tuesday night at Moody Coliseum.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for ACU and improved its season record to 6-7, while the Patriots fell to 6-10.
Freshman
Parker Wentz led all scorers with a career high 21 points on 7 of 8 shooting, which included a 5 of 6 effort from 3-point range.
Senior guard
Eric Lawton poured in 11 points for his seventh straight game in double figures, while adding a career best nine assists and three steals. Freshman
T.J. Brown matched Lawton in points and pulled down 12 rebounds for his first career double-double.
Also scoring in double figures tonight were
Dosh Simms (12) and
Steven Werner (11).
The Wildcats shot better than 64 percent from the field in the first half, and along the way jumped out to leads of 8-0 and 20-3. They were ahead 49-20 when the halftime buzzer sounded, helped by 6 of 8 shooting from beyond the arc.
ACU scored 17 points off Patriot miscues in the first half on top of holding them to five field goals and 23.8 percent shooting. Arlington Baptist didn't make its first field goal until there was 12:55 remaning and didn't go above double figures until there was less than five minutes to go.
It was more of the same in the second half as ACU started on a 10-2 run on 4 of 5 shooting, extending its lead to 59-22 by the first media timeout. Meanwhile, the Patriots went 1 for their first 6.
The Wildcats made 14 of 26 buckets in the second half to finish with a 59.3 shooting percentage and out-rebounded the Patriots, 41-27. ACU pulled down 31 rebounds off the defensive glass.
Josh Green was the Patriots' leading scorer with nine points. Jeremiah Ford was credited with seven rebounds.
The Wildcats return to action Saturday at 8:30 p.m. vs. Southwestern Adventist.
