ABILENE – Freshman guard
Jaylen Franklin led a group of five ACU players in double figures Wednesday night as the Wildcats rolled past Hillsdale Free Will Baptist, 90-48, in their final non-conference tune-up before Southland Conference play begins Saturday.
The win snaps ACU's three-game losing streak and pushes its record to 5-8 on the season, while the Saints fall to 6-6. ACU is back in action Saturday at approximately 4 p.m. in the second game of a Southland Conference doubleheader at Central Arkansas. Both games will be broadcast on KTLT 98.1 FM.
Franklin scored 18 points (12 in the first half) and grabbed six rebounds and dished out three assists, while fellow freshman
Jaren Lewis scored 16 points and grabbed six rebounds from his forward position. Senior guard
Parker Wentz had 12 points (4 of 6 from 3-point range) and two blocks, and senior center
Duran Porter had 12 points and seven rebounds.
Senior forward
Austin Cooke had 10 points and five rebounds off the bench in the ACU win. Junior forwad
Jovan Crnic was sensational with eight points, seven rebounds, six assists and one steal in just 21 minutes.
The game was tied early, 5-5, before the Wildcats ripped off a 16-0 run to take a 21-5 lead with 13:41 left in the first half. After the Saints pulled to within 21-10, the Wildcats ripped off another 17-8 run to take their first 20-point lead of the night (38-18) with 4:40 left in the first half. Cooke finished the run with a 3-pointer to give ACU a 20-point advantage.
Armed with a 49-24 halftime lead, the Wildcats opened the second half with a 12-0 over the first 2:51 to push their lead to 37 points with 17:09 to play. Crnic finished the run with a jumper, his second field goal of the night.
From there it was simply a matter of running out the clock on the Wildcats' win. ACU finished the game shooting 52.9 percent from the field (36 of 68), including 50 percent from 3-point range (9 of 18). The Wildcats were also 81.8 percent from the free throw line (9 of 11).
The Wildcats dominated the game in every category, outscoring the Saints 53-14 in the paint, 27-11 off turnovers, 14-0 on second-chance points, 21-4 off fast-break points and 24-16 off the bench.
