ABILENE – Sophomore forward
Jaren Lewis scored 15 points and pulled down nine re bounds, while redshirt freshman center
Jalone Friday had 16 points and seven rebounds off the bench Sunday afternoon as ACU snapped a short losing streak with a workman-like 71-55 win over Howard Payne in Moody Coliseum.
The win snaps ACU's two-game losing streak and pushes the Wildcats to 3-2 on the season, while the Yellow Jackets fall to 1-2. ACU now holds a commanding 73-38 all-time series advantage over Howard Payne.
The Wildcats never trailed in the game, building as much as a 23-point lead early in the second half before watching HPU trim the lead to 11 points midway through the half. But the Wildcats refused to wilt and were able to put the Jackets away, thanks to strong inside play from Friday and Lewis.
Friday led all players with 16 points and had seven rebounds in a game for the fourth time in five ACU games this season. Friday also had three blocks in 21 minutes off the bench. Lewis was dominant again as the Wildcats' leading scorer had 15 points on 4 of 6 shooting from the field to go along with the nine rebounds, three assists and two steals in 34 minutes.
Freshman point guard
Payten Ricks – starting in place of injured ACU point guard
Jaylen Franklin – scored the first four points of the game for ACU before finishing with nine points, two rebounds and two assists in 23 minutes. Junior guard
Isaiah Tripp had one of his best games as a Wildcat, finishing with 10 points on 4 of 5 shooting from the field to go along with four rebounds, two assists and two steals, both of which led to fast-break layups.
Key Stats
• After making just 18 of 37 free throws combined in their two previous losses to Charleston Southern (9 of 18) and Oklahoma (9 of 19) in games they lost by a combined nine points, the Wildcats hit 22 of 27 from the free throw line Sunday afternoon.
• ACU had been out-rebounded 147-145 on the season entering Sunday's contest, but the Wildcats won the battle on the glass against Howard Payne, out-rebounding the Yellow Jackets 35-30.
• The Wildcats have allowed opponents to shoot just 39.7 percent from the field entering Sunday's game (89 of 224), and held Howard Payne to just 34.0 percent shooting from the field (18 of 53).
• ACU has also been solid defending the 3-pointer this season, allowing a combined 28.2 percent through the first four games (22 of 78) and then holding HPU to just 20 percent (4 of 20) in the game.
Notable
• ACU head coach
Joe Golding said injured point guard
Jaylen Franklin had an exam on his injured right knee Sunday morning that was positive and that he will undergo further examination and an MRI on Monday to determine how long he'll be out. Franklin was injured last Friday with 14:51 left in the game at Oklahoma and did not return. Golding said the injury isn't season-ending, but wouldn't speculate as to how soon his sophomore guard would return.
Quotable
"Howard Payne really has a good team, and the way they run their offense and defense made us really have to play hard on both ends of the floor (Sunday). I was pleased that we held them to 34 percent shooting from the field and that they only hit 20 percent from the 3-point line. We played hard, but we need to see that whether we're playing Oklahoma, Howard Payne or New Mexico." –
ACU head coach Joe Golding
Up Next
The Wildcats will be back in action Wednesday at 8 p.m. (7 p.m. MST) when they take on the New Mexico Lobos in the Wisepies Arena, otherwise known as "The Pit." The game takes place on the eve of the 50
th anniversary of the first game in "The Pit," a game the Wildcats also played in. New Mexico won the game on Dec. 1, 1966, by the score of 62-53 and ACU went on to finish 11-11 that season.
