ABILENE – ACU sophomore guard
Jaylen Franklin made a pair of plays in the final 75 seconds of the game Saturday night that helped turn a one point Wildcat deficit into a lead, propelling the Wildcats to a 76-72 win over Northwestern State in a Southland Conference contest in Moody Coliseum.
With ACU trailed 71-70, Franklin stole a pass near midcoast and went the distance for a dunk to give ACU a lead, and then he hit a driving layup with 10 seconds to play to give his team a 75-72 lead.
Isaiah Tripp hit a free throw with two seconds left to seal the Wildcats' fourth straight home conference victory and push them to 11-13 overall and 5-8 in league play.
Saturday was P4X Day at Moody Coliseum with both teams wearing shooting shirts with the P4X logo emblazoned across the front. The Play 4 Rex Foundation, which was founded by ACU associate director of athletics
Lance Fleming and his wife, Jill, after their 10-year-old son, Rex, passed away in November 2012 after a 2-year battle against brain cancer. The foundation raises money to aid families in the Big Country who are dealing with pediatric cancer.
ACU had a nine-point lead at halftime (36-27) that swelled to 39-27 before the second half even started when
Jalone Friday – who was terrific with a team-high 20 points on 7 of 8 shooting from the field – hit 3 of 4 free throws after NSU head coach Mike McConathy and Devonte Hall were each issued technical fouls after the buzzer sounded to end the first half.
But the Demons quickly recovered, outscoring ACU 23-11 in the first few minutes of the second half to knot the score at 50-50. NSU took its first two leads of the game shortly thereafter as the Demons took leads of 57-56 and 60-58 on a dunk and 3-pointer by Ishmail Lane, who was terrific for the Demons, finishing with 32 points.
With the game tied 64-64 after Lane layup with 4:29 to play, the Wildcats regained a lead they wouldn't give up when Friday buried a huge 3-pointer from the top of the key to give his team a 67-64 lead with 3:44 left in the game. After Lane hit 1 of 2 free throws,
Jaren Lewis hit a pair of free throws with 2:57 left to make it a 69-65 ACU lead.
After Lane converted a three-point play with 2:45 to play to cut ACU's lead to 69-68 with 2:45 before he scored again with 2:02 to play give the Demons' their third and final lead of the game at 70-69. After a turnover by ACU's
Isaiah Tripp with 1:46 to play, NSU was in a position to push its lead to at least three points before Franklin stole a pass by Sabri Thompson and drive for a go-ahead dunk with 1:11 to play.
After Josh Boyd missed a jumper for NSU,
Jaren Lewis grabbed a rebound and was fouled. He then hit a pair of free throws to make it 73-70 with 46 seconds left to make it 73-70. Lane, though, answered again with a layup to make it 73-72 with 36 seconds to play. With the shot clock running down on its ensuing possession, Franklin drove into the lane and rolled in a layup to give ACU a 75-72 lead. Tripp then hit the free throw eight seconds later to give his team an insurmountable four-point lead.
Friday led three Wildcats in double figures with 20 points, while Lewis had 11 points, nine rebounds and six assists. After struggling in the first half, sophomore forward
Hayden Howell played perhaps the best stretch of basketball in his ACU career in the second half. Howell was 0 for 2 from the field and 1 for 4 from the line with four rebounds in the first half, but came back to hit 3 of 4 shots from the field and 4 of 4 from the line and grab a pair of rebounds in the second half to finish with 11 points, six rebounds and one blocked shot.
Key Stat
• After hitting just 3 of 10 free throws in the first half, the Wildcats knocked down 12 of 16 shots from the free throw line in the game's final 20 minutes.
Notable
• The Wildcats won just two games the entire month of January, finishing the month 2-5 (all in Southland Conference play). Saturday's win, however, pushed ACU to 3-1 in the month of February.
• ACU's win pushes them from a tie for 11th in the league up to a tie for ninth in the standings. At 5-8, ACU is now tied with Incarnate Word, which lost to Sam Houston State, 72-63, Saturday night in Huntsville.
• ACU was plus-eight in rebounding margin against Northwestern State (37-29), its largest rebounding margin against an NCAA Division I opponent this season.
Quotable
"Northwestern State has a much better team than their record suggests. I have a ton of respect for (head coach) Mike McConathy and their staff and team, and they played really well (Saturday). I appreciate what their guys did for the Play 4 Rex Foundation, and seeing Coach McConathy wearing the shirt on the bench was terrific. I told our guys that his team wouldn't quit even when they were down 12 to start the second half and they didn't. We're learning how to win close games at home and learning how to protect Moody Coliseum (9-3 at home this season). Now we've got to go out on the road and start figuring it out on the road. It's tough in this league, but it's something we've got to get figured out and get on a roll here late in the season." — ACU head coach Joe Golding
Up Next
The Wildcats – 2-10 on the road this season, including 0-6 in conference play – are back on the road Thursday as they take on McNeese in Lake Charles, La., in their only game this week. Tipoff from Barton Coliseum is set for 7 p.m.
