Box Score COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – ACU's two leading scorers combined to score 20 of their 22 points in the second half Wednesday to lead the Wildcats to a hard-fought 62-58 win over Air Force at Clune Arena.
Jalone Friday scored all 14 of his points in the final 20 minutes and Jaren Lewis scored six of his eight points in the second half and Tevin Foster made several key plays down the stretch as the Wildcats knocked off the Falcons to improve to 6-3 on the season. Air Force drops to 5-4 with the loss.
Friday didn't play the majority of the first half because of foul trouble and Lewis struggled to find his shot in the first half. But ACU still led at the half, thanks to eight points from Foster and six from Jaylen Franklin and Payten Ricks.
ACU opened the second half on a 20-6 run in the first 6:36 of the half to push its lead to a game-high 17 points at 47-30. Foster and Isaiah Tripp hit shot-clocker-buzzer-beating 3-pointers near the end of the run to put the Wildcats on the verge of blowing out the Falcons.
But Air Force battled back, outscoring ACU 15-5 over the next seven minutes to cut the Wildcats' advantage to 52-45 with 6:43 left in the contest. It was a slugfest from that point to the final buzzer.
TURNING POINT
ACU's lead was down to 55-49 with 3:20 to play and Air Force had the ball after Foster missed a jumper, looking to cut the lead to four or three points. But Foster picked off a pass by Ryan Manning and went the distance for the layup to put ACU back in front 57-49 with 2:31 to play.
But Air Force rallied again, this time outscoring ACU 9-3 to cut the Wildcat lead to 60-58 with 11 seconds to play. ACU contributed to the comeback as Foster was 1 for 2 at the free throw line with 57 seconds left, Ricks was 0 for 2 with 24 seconds left and Lewis missed the front end of a one-and-one after grabbing the offensive rebound of Ricks' last miss and drawing a foul himself.
After Lavelle Scottie hit a jumper with 11 seconds to play to draw the Falcons to within 60-58, Friday grabbed a loose ball on the ensuing inbounds pass and was fouled. He calmly sank a pair of free throws to give ACU a 62-58 lead.
With nine seconds to play, Foster got his hand on a pass, knocking it out of bounds, leaving Air Force with just 3.8 seconds to play. The Falcons got off a last-gasp 3-pointer at the buzzer, but it would have made no difference in the outcome as the Wildcats celebrated a win over the Falcons of the Mountain West Conference.
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
• ACU went to halftime with a 27-24 lead, despite getting just two combined points from its two leading scorers in the first half. Leading scorer Jaren Lewis – who entered the game ranked 26
th in NCAA Division I basketball in field goal percentage at 65.3 percent – was just 1 of 5 from the field in the first 20 minutes. Second-leading scorer Jalone Friday didn't score in the first half after playing just the first 28 seconds and retiring to the bench after picking up two questionable fouls inside the first half-minute of play.
• Air Force entered the game averaged just 13.5 turnovers per game. But ACU's defense forced 13 turnovers in the first half on its way to forcing 20 in the game.
• The win gives ACU three road or neutral-site wins over NCAA Division I programs in the last 12 days. In their previous four seasons of NCAA Division I play in which they were going through transition from NCAA Division II to Division I affiliation, the Wildcats had four such wins: neutral-site wins vs. South Carolina State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff in 2014-15, a neutral-site win over Florida A&M in 2015-16, and a road win over Charleston Southern last season.
THEY SAID IT
ACU head coach Joe Golding on the win …
"This wasn't a pretty game, but that's OK because we haven't won a lot of ugly games the last few years. But this team is growing up and learning how to fight through adversity and finish games. I thought we took a big step in the growth of our program with this win."
UP NEXT
The Wildcats will have a quick turnaround as they will host Texas State at 4 p.m. Saturday in the annual Christmas Slam game at Moody Coliseum. The Bobcats are 5-4 on the season after Wednesday night's 100-47 win over McMurry in San Marcos.
