ABILENE – The old adage in sports is that the biggest game is always the next game on the schedule.
That was certainly the case for the ACU Wildcats, who for the first time this season had lost consecutive games and were 0-1 in the Southland Conference going into Saturday night's home contest against Sam Houston State.
The Wildcats responded to their first bit of adversity this season with a hard-fought 75-72 win over the Bearkats, improving to 9-6 overall and 1-1 in the league. The Bearkats, meanwhile, are 6-8 and 0-1 after the loss, their third straight to the Wildcats.
ACU head coach
Joe Golding challenged his team in the short interval between the conference-opener Thursday night and Saturday's contest to protect its home floor and respond in a positive fashion to a tough opening stretch to the conference season.
He challenged them again at halftime with the game tied 39-39, and the Wildcats responded with a 7-0 run to start the half and a 22-8 run to open the half, breaking out to a 61-47 lead with 12:19 to play and then holding off a late Sam Houston State charge to pull out the win.
Tevin Foster led four Wildcats in double figures with 19 points, while Jaren Lewis had 14 points and seven rebounds. Jaylen Franlin had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds to go with seven assists, and Payten Ricks had 11 points. Drake Green had 10 points off the bench, and Hayden Howell came off the bench to finish with five points, three rebounds and one huge charge taken in the final minutes.
TURNING POINT
ACU charged out of the halftime locker room with a 7-0 run to go up 46-39 and then extended the lead to as much as 61-47 with 12:19 on a layup by Green on a terrific back-door cut feed from Isaiah Tripp. At that point, ACU had hit 23 of 43 shots from the field and held a commanding lead.
But the Wildcats went absolutely ice-cold from the field over the final 12 minutes of the contest, making just 2 of their final 12 shots as Sam Houston crept back into the game. The Bearkats ripped off a 15-2 run late in the second half to cut ACU's lead to 67-66 on a three-point play by John Dewey III with 2:27 to play.
In that nearly 10-minute stretch, the Wildcats missed six layups and several key free throws and committed four of their 15 turnovers.
But once the Bearkats trimmed the lead to 67-66, the Wildcats once again responded.
First, Foster drove into the lane and was fouled and buried a pair of free throws with 2:!1 to play to give ACU a 69-66 lead. Howell then took a huge charge against Chris Galbreath Jr., who fouled out on the play with 17 points. After Jamal Williams hit 1 of 2 free throws with 1:01 to play to cut ACU's lead to 69-67, Franklin made the biggest offensive play of the game when he rebounded his own missed jumper and hit a putback floater with 37 seconds left to push the ACU lead to 71-67.
Josh Delaney then missed a 3-poiner with 28 seconds to play and Howell grabbed the defensive rebound and was fouled by Marcus Harris in the open court with 21 seconds to play. Harris was whistled for a flagrant foul and Howell buried both free throws for a 73-67 lead and ACU retained possession.
Green was fouled on the ensuing inbounds pass and hit 1 of 2 free throws for a 74-67 lead. But the Bearkats wouldn't go away as Delaney converted a three-point play with 12 seconds left to make it 74-70. But Ricks hit 1 of 2 free throws with 10 seconds to play to put the game out of reach at 75-72. Williams hit a layup with 0.01 seconds to play for the Bearkats for the final score.
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
• The Wildcats out-rebounded the Bearkats, 37-36, Saturday night, only the second time this season the Wildcats have out-rebounded an NCAA Division I opponent (plus-2 in a win over Campbell on Nov. 24).
• Sam Houston State entered the game shooting just 29.8 percent from the 3-point line on the season, but buried 7 of 9 shots from beyond the arc in the first half to keep the game close. The Bearkats, however, hit just 2 of 12 from beyond the arc in the second half.
• The Wildcats went to the free throw line 27 times Saturday night compared to 21 times by Sam Houston State, breaking a string of five straight games in which opponents took more free throws than did the Wildcats. Saturday night's game is just the third in ACU's 15 games this season in which it has taken more free throws than the opponent with the others being the season-opener vs. Randall and the Dec. 6 game at Air Force.
THEY SAID IT
ACU head coach Joe Golding on the win …
"Our guys really fought hard. There were times that we played really well, and there were times that it was really pretty ugly. We got a big lead in the second half didn't close the game very well. But we responded when we had to and we protected our home floor, which is going to be huge throughout the conference season. I'm proud that we found a way to win against a very good opponent."
UP NEXT
The Wildcats will be back at home Wednesday at 7 p.m. when they host McNeese in another Southland Conference matchup. The game can be heard on 98.1 FM The Ticket. Admission is free for everyone 14 and under.
