ABILENE, Texas – Four Abilene Christian players scored in double figures Tuesday night and the Wildcats poured in 54 second-half points as they cruised to a 91-65 win over Jarvis Christian in non-conference men's basketball action at Moody Coliseum.
The win pushes the Wildcats to 2-2 on the season, while the Bulldogs fall to 1-6. ACU will be back in action Saturday at 3 p.m. (Abilene time) in the first game of the toughest seven-day stretch of the season so far. The Wildcats will play at California-Riverside on Saturday before returning home to host Sacramento State on Dec. 4. Two days later, the Wildcats will be in Houston to take on the Houston Cougars.
After taking just a 37-27 lead into halftime, the Wildcats opened the second half by outscoring the Bulldogs 15-5 over the first 4:55 of the half to push the lead to 20 points.
Austin Cooke had four points and
Jalen Little a 3-pointer to spark the run and give the Wildcats an insurmountable lead.
Harrison Hawkins – who came off the bench to score a team-high 14 points – capped the run with a 3-pointer to give ACU a 52-32 lead with 15:05 to play. Jarvis Christian would not get closer than 18 points the rest of the way.
The win was ACU's 25th straight at home over non-conference opponents. The last time the Wildcats lost a home non-conference game was Nov. 30, 2009, when they dropped an 85-82 decision to Dallas Baptist at Moody Coliseum.
Tuesday night against Jarvis Christian, Hawkins led the Wildcats with 14 points, while Cooke and
Michael Grant each had 13 points. Redshirt freshman center
Christian Albright had 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds, both career-highs.
After a start to their shooting night (1 for 10 from the field to start the game), the Wildcats hit 31 of their last 62 shots (50 percent) from the field. Jarvis Christian had a very solid shooting first half, hitting 10 of 17 from the field, but managed to hist just 10 of 25 shots from the field in the second half.
