ABILENE – ACU men's basketball head coach
Joe Golding is watching his young team grow up in the non-conference portion of the schedule. Unfortunately that means enduring nights like Friday when the Wildcats let one slip away against Cal-Riverside at Moody Coliseum.
ACU's poor first-half start and its inability to get key stops in the second half led to the Highlanders walking out of Moody with a narrow 60-56 win over the Wildcats in non-conference men's action.
The Wildcats (4-6) will be back in action Sunday at 1 p.m. against TCU in the first game at the newly renovated Schollmaier Arena (formerly Daniel Meyer Coliseum). The game can be heard on 98.1 FM The Ticket and can be seen on Fox Sports Southwest.
The Wildcats fell behind by as many as 16 points in Friday night's loss to Cal-Riverside, but were able to scratch and claw back into the game, eventually cutting the Highlanders' lead to 59-56 with less than 15 seconds to play. After a free throw miss by Jaylen Bland and defensive rebound by
Jovan Crnic, ACU's
Parker Wentz had a great look at a game-tying 3-pointer with about seven seconds to play.
The shot off Wentz's hand went halfway down before it rattled out, giving the ball back to Riverside. The Highlanders canned 1 of 2 free throws to make it a 60-56 game, putting it out of the Wildcats' reach in the final five seconds.
"The shot Parker took probably didn't go in because we didn't deserve for it to go in after the way we started the game," Golding said. "We've got to find a way to win a game like this. We can't be young and inexperienced forever. We've got to come out and be more ready to play than we were (Friday)."
The Wildcats' first-half effort was solid, but their inability to put the ball in the basket put them in a deep hole. ACU trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half (25-9) after a jumper by Steven Jones with 9:19 left in the first half. That bucket capped an opening-game run that saw the Highlanders hit 10 of their first 13 shots of the contest.
While the Highlanders were shooting well from the field, the Wildcats were struggling, hitting just three of their first 16 shots of the game to fall into the 16-point hole. ACU got the Riverside lead down to 27-20 with 4:04 to play on a 3-pointer and a layup by
Jovan Crnic.
But the Highlanders finished the half by outscoring ACU 4-0 with the Wildcats contributing to the run by missing each of their last three shots and turning the ball over with three seconds left in the half, leading to a 31-20 lead for the Highlanders at the half.
The Wildcats hit just 9 of 28 shots from the field in the first half (32.1 percent), including just 1 of 10 from 3-point range and 1 of 6 from the free throw line. The Highlanders did end up cooling off, finishing the first half 12 of 24 from the field, including 2 of 8 from 3-point range and 5 of 9 from the free throw line.
ACU got the Riverside lead down to 32-27 with 17:56 to play after a layup by
Jaylen Franklin. But the Highlanders answered with a 7-0 run to push their lead back to 12 points (39-27) with 16:23 left in the game.
Each time the Wildcats would make a push to get the lead down to two possessions, the Highlanders answered with a burst that would push their lead back to at least 10 points. The Wildcats, however, were finally able to mount a push late in the game that cut the Highlanders' lead from 12 points (57-45) to three points (59-56) with 33 seconds to play.
Crnic – who led all scorers with 18 points – had six points in the 11-2 Wildcat run that got ACU to within one shot. After Bland missed the front end of a one-and-one situation, Crnic grabbed the rebound and sprinted up the floor where he found Wentz on the left arc. He pump-faked his defender and ended up with a wide-open look at the game-tying 3-pointer.
His shot was in-and-out, leaving the Wildcats on the short end of the scoreboard for the second straight season against the Highlanders.
Crnic led the Wildcats with 18 points, while freshman
Hayden Howell had a career-high 10 points off the bench.
