Wildcats run away from Randall in season-opening win

Friday, November 10

Abilene, Texas

7:30 p.m.

Abilene Christian

1-0

Randall

1-4

Team	1	2	F
Randall	33	35	68
Abilene Christian	39	47	86

Photo by: Jeremy Enlow

Wildcats run away from Randall in season-opening win

11/11/2017 12:16:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

ABILENE – Jaren Lewis and Jalone Friday turned in double-doubles and Jaylen Franklin and Tevin Foster also scored in double figures Friday night as the ACU Wildcats opened the season with an 86-68 win over Randall in front of a good home crowd at Moody Coliseum.

Lewis scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half and had 10 rebounds, while Friday had a smooth 25 points and pulled down 10 rebounds as ACU's inside duo dominated the Saints. The backcourt duo of Franklin (12 points, six assists and one rebound) and Foster (17 points, four assists and five rebounds) combined for 29, 10 assists and six rebounds.

The Wildcats shot 52.5 percent from the floor (32 of 61), including 25 percent from 3-point range (4 of 16). The Wildcats dominated the Saints in the paint, outscoring Randall, 48-22, and on the boards, out-rebounding the Saints, 46-37.

TURNING POINT
The Saints were within six pints (39-33) at halftime and were still within seven points (47-40) with 16:26 to play before the Wildcats put the game away with a 17-2 run that was sparked by Lewis, Franklin and Foster.

Lewis hit a layup at the 15:39 mark of the second half to get the game-deciding run started, pushing ACU's lead to 49-40. Foster followed with a 3-pointer before Brad Ficken scored with 14:06 left in the game to make it 49-42. But the Wildcats then ran off 15 straight points to turn the game into a runaway.

Franklin scored on a jumper and then hit a layup before Lewis converted a three-point play and then hit 3 of 4 free throws to make it a 62-42 game. Franklin hit a layup with 10:41 left in the game to push the Wildcats' lead to 64-42 and put the game away.

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
• Jaren Lewis scored 17 points in the game, but only took seven shots, hitting six of those from the field.
• Randall took 10 more shots from the field than did the Wildcats (71 for Randall to 61 for ACU) and hit six more 3-pointers (10 for Randall to four for ACU).
• Kolton Kohl – the first 7-footer in ACU men's basketball history – went into the game for his first action as a Wildcat with 9:21 left in the game. He scored his first point as a collegiate player when he hit the second of two free throws with 8:35 left to play.

QUOTABLE
ACU head coach Joe Golding
… on the season-opening win
"This game is always frustrating. When we were a Division II program you loved playing these type of games. As a Division I program, you hate them. Randall is a tough team to guard when they go small, and they did that a lot and caused us some problems. But we've got a mature team and they handled it well when the game got tight."

UP NEXT
The Wildcats will go on the road for the first time this season Monday when they take on Arkansas State in Jonesboro, Ark. The game will tipoff at 7 p.m. and can be heard on 98.1 FM.