ABILENE – The ACU Wildcats returned to the floor Saturday for the first time in seven days and were able to come away with a workmanlike 90-69 win over Northern New Mexico in a non-conference game in Moody Coliseum.
The Wildcats' second straight win pushes them to 5-3 overall, while the Eagles fall to 2-11 with their 11
th straight loss.
ACU dominated Saturday's game in every phase, turning a fairly close game into a blowout with a 16-0 run midway through the first half. Northern New Mexico closed to within 25-22 with 11:31 left in the first half after a three-point play by Ezini Ugbisien.
The Wildcats responded, however, with a 16-0 run that saw six different ACU players score and was led by five points from
Jaren Lewis.
Jovan Crnic hit a 3-pointer, while
Diamante Langston,
Hayden Howell and
Payten Ricks each had two points in the run that gave ACU a 41-22 lead with 4:54 left in the first half.
The Wildcats went on to carry a 51-34 lead into halftime, and the Eagles never threatened to make it a game in the second half as ACU cruised to the win.
ACU shot 58 percent from the floor 32 of 55), while the Eagles shot 44 percent 21 of 48). The Wildcats also hit 7 of 17 from 3-point range (41 percent) and were a solid 19 of 22 (86 percent) from the free throw line as they continued to show improvement at the line after a slow start.
Lewis led the Wildcats in scoring with 18 points and four rebounds, while redshirt freshman
Jalone Friday tacked on 16 points and three rebounds. Crnic scored 10 points, while
Hayden Farquhar added 12 and seven rebounds in a solid effort off the bench.
Quotable
"The best way to put it for this game is that we survived Finals week. This wasn't a very pretty game, but sometimes these games go that way. Next week we'll get back on a regular schedule and hopefully be able to shake off some of the rust we had (Saturday) and continue to improve." –
ACU head coach Joe Golding
Up Next
The Wildcats will be back in action at home Wednesday (Dec. 14) when they host Randall University in a non-conference contest at 7 p.m. Randall is the former Hillsdale Freewill Baptist College and the Wildcats are 7-0 all-time against the Saints. The game can be heard on 98.1 FM The Ticket (98theticket.com) and can be seen on acusports.com.
