Men's Basketball | 1/15/2016 12:58:00 PM
NACOGDOCHES – The ACU Wildcats' next challenge for its youth-laden squad is as big it gets in the Southland Conference as they travel to Nacogdoches to take on two-time defending league champion Stephen F. Austin in a prime time battle at Johnson Coliseum.
Tipoff for the game is set for 6 p.m.
The Wildcats (7-9 overall and 2-1 in the league) are playing some of their best basketball of the season going into the game against the Lumberjacks, who are 10-5 and 3-0 after an 85-64 win Tuesday night over Central Arkansas. ACU enters the game at SFA coming off a 87-72 home win over Northwestern State, which was picked to finish second in the league.
Saturday's game will be broadcast locally on 98.1 FM The Ticket with The Voice of the Wildcats,
Grant Boone, calling the play-by-play. Fans can watch the game on espn3.com.
ACU's bench played a valuable role in the win over the Demons with sophomore guard
Isaiah Tripp scoring all 12 of his points in a four-minute span late in the second half to help the Wildcats pull away for the victory. Freshman forward
Hayden Farquhar added 10 points off the bench, including a pair of key 3-pointers.
The Wildcats continue to be led in scoring by freshman guard
Jaylen Franklin, who scored 20 points against the Demons and is averaging 14.7 points per game. He hit 12 of 16 free throws in Tuesday night's win and is second in the league in free throw attempts (97) and sixth in makes (61). He's the top freshman scorer in the league, and he ranks sixth in the league in steals (1.9 per game).
Freshman forward
Jaren Lewis pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds in Tuesday's win over Northwestern State, pushing his average to 6.0 per game, good for 11
th in the league entering Saturday's game. He's the top freshman rebounder in the league, and his field goal shooting percentage of 50.9 percent is 14
th in the Southland.
Parker Wentz had 17 points for the second straight game Tuesday and has 8 of 15 shots from beyond the 3-point arc in the Wildcats' last two games (53.3 percent). He is shooting 48.2 percent from the 3-point line this season, which is tied with Matt Donland of Youngstown State for 12
th in NCAA Division I basketball. His average of 2.56 3-pointers per game is fifth in the Southland Conference and tied for 93
rd in NCAA Division I basketball.
SFA – the pre-season choice to win the league for the third straight year and make another appearance in the NCAA Tournament – is led by senior Thomas Walkup, last year's league Player of the Year and the MVP of the Southland Conference Tournament. He scored a season-high 32 points in Tuesday's win over UCA and is averaging 15.7 points per game and 6.3 rebounds per game.
