Box Score
ABILENE – ACU sophomore
Parker Wentz scored a career-high 27 points Thursday night as he helped the Wildcats snap a four-game losing streak with an 87-81 win over Houston Baptist in Southland Conference men's basketball action at Moody Coliseum.
Wentz was 8 for 11 from the field and 10 of 11 from the free throw line as he led five Wildcats who scored in double figures. The Wildcats' 87 points is their highest point total in a game against an NCAA Division I foe and their second win over an NCAA Division I opponent this season.
Wentz made three key plays in the final 108 seconds to seal the Wildcats' second Southland Conference win of the season.
First he buried a jumper in traffic with 1:48 to play to give the Wildcats an 81-76 lead. Then after an ill-advised shot by
James Pegues early in the shot clock led to a fast break opportunity for the Huskies, Wentz stepped in the way of Tyler Russell and took a charge with 1:04 to play to preserve the Wildcats' 81-77 lead.
Then with the Wildcats leading 85-79, he went high to grab a defensive rebound after a 3-point miss by Colter Lasher to give the Wildcats the ball back. He was quickly fouled and went to the line where he buried his ninth and 10th free throws of the night to seal the deal for ACU.
Aside from Wentz's 27 points – which surpassed his previous career high of 21 points set on Jan. 18 against Central Arkansas when his layup on a goaltending call at the buzzer gave ACU its first Southland Conference win –
Julian Edmonson had 18 points off the bench,
Jacob Lancaster had 13 off the bench and
Rafael Farley and
Michael Grant each had 10 points.
The Wildcats shot 61.4 percent from the field (27 of 44), including 5 of 9 from 3-point range. They were also 28 of 38 from the free throw line (73.7 percent) and turned the ball over just 14 times, significantly lower than their average of 18.3 per game over their last six games.
