Sooners pull away from ACU in second half - Abilene Christian Athletics

Friday, November 25

Norman, Okla.

2 p.m.

Abilene Christian

2-2

Oklahoma

4-1

Team	1	2	F
Abilene Christian	30	34	64
Oklahoma	26	46	72

Photo by: Josh Gateley

11/25/2016 5:19:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

NORMAN, Okla. – The ACU Wildcats gave Oklahoma all it wanted before the Sooners were able to finally pull away for a 72-64 win over the Wildcats in front of 4,451 fans at the Lloyd Noble Center.

The Wildcats' second straight loss drops them to 2-2 on the season, while the Sooners – who reached the Final Four in 2015-16 – improve to 4-1. ACU is back in action Sunday at 4 p.m. when it hosts Howard Payne in Moody Coliseum.

The Wildcats led throughout the first half and carried a 30-26 lead into halftime. But OU opened the second half on an 11-3 run to grab its own four-point lead at 37-33 with 16:56 to play on a layup by Matt Freeman. But the Wildcats refused to go away as they stayed within four points until there were less than eight minutes to play.

ACU was forced to play almost the entire second half without sophomore guard Jaylen Franklin, who left the game with an unspecified leg injury with 14:51 to play. But the Wildcats hung in against the Sooners with freshmen Peyton Ricks, Trey Lenox, B.J. Maxwell and Jalone Friday playing big roles and sophomore Jaren Lewis providing another stellar effort.

After falling behind 62-53 with 2:58 to play, ACU senior guard Jovan Crnic buried a 3-pointer with 2:47 to play to cut the lead to 62-56 before Christian James hit a pair of free throws for the Sooners, which was the theme of the game. OU hit 29 of 46 free throws to just 9 of 19 for the Wildcats, who were whistled for 32 personal fouls compared to just 17 for the Sooners.

But Ricks converted a three-point play on the ensuing ACU possession to cut the OU lead to 64-59 with 2:23 to play, but Rashard Odomes pushed it back to a seven-point game with a dunk and Lenox missed a 3-pointer with 1:52 to play and that was the Wildcats' last real threat in the game.

OU hit four straight free throws and Odomes hit a layup to make it 72-59 before Hayden Farquhar scored five straight points for the Wildcats in the final 37 seconds, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it an eight-point final margin.

Franklin was the only Wildcat in double figures with 11 points on 5 of 11 shooting, while OU point guard Jordan Woodard led the Sooners with 16 points. ACU won the battle inside by out-rebounding the Sooners 42-40 and outscoring them 32-28 in the paint. But the Wildcats turned the ball over 22 times compared to just 14 for the Sooners, and those turnovers – as well as the discrepancy at the free throw line – proved to be too much for the Wildcats to overcome.

Key Stats
• The Oklahoma sooners reached the 2-shot bonus in the first half with 9:32 left in the half, while the Sooners had just three fouls called on them in that same time frame.
• The Sooners were 11 for 22 from the free throw line in the first half, while the Wildcats were just 3 for 7.
• The Wildcats had a 30-26 lead at halftime, the fourth time in four games this season that the Wildcats have led at the break.
• After committing eight turnovers in the first 20 minutes of the game, the Wildcats had five in the first 4:28 of the second half, allowing the Sooners to open the second half on an 11-5 run to take the lead. The Wildcats finished with 22 turnovers in the game, 14 of them in the second half.
• The Wildcats struggled again at the free throw line, hitting just 9 of 19 (47.4 percent). ACU is just 35 of 62 from the free throw line this season (56.5 percent).

Notable
• ACU sophomore guard Jaylen Franklin scored his 10^th and 11^th points of the game on a steal and driving layup with 14:51 to play, but he left the game with that amount of time left after he injured his right knee while falling to the floor. He will be re-evaluated in Abilene on Monday, but early indications after an examination by the OU team doctor are that the injury isn't thought to be serious.

Quotable
"We did a lot of good things in this game. We played hard and because of an injury (Jaylen Franklin) and foul trouble, we had some guys grow up and play a lot of minutes. But we couldn't' keep them off the free throw line and we turned the ball over too much. Moving forward, we've got to do a better job protecting the ball and not fouling the opponent. We were able to ugly up the game a little bit because that was our best chance to win against a really good team like Oklahoma." – ACU head coach Joe Golding

Up Next
The Wildcats will be back in action Sunday at 4 p.m. when they host Howard Payne in a non-conference contest in Moody Coliseum. Howard Payne and ACU have met 110 times over the course of the 95 years of ACU basketball – the most frequent opponent in ACU history – with the Wildcats holding a 72-38 series edge.