DENVER – For the first time in their NCAA Division I history, the ACU Wildcats are 3-0 to start a season after they strolled into Magness Arena and knocked off the Denver Pioneers, 67-61, behind a career-high 23 points from junior guard
Payten Ricks.
Ricks – whose previous career high was 19 points scored last December in a loss at Lipscomb – also hit a career-best five 3-pointers as the Wildcats grabbed the victory over the Pioneers (1-2). ACU will be back in action next week in the Tigers Thanksgiving Classic hosted by the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif. ACU will play Elon, N.C. (Thursday), Pacific (Friday) and California-Riverside (Saturday).
Ricks wasn't the only hero for the Wildcats in Thursday night's road win as senior forward
Jaren Lewis — the reigning Southland Conference Player of the Week — continued his strong start to the season with 19 points and four rebounds,
B.J. Maxwell contributed three points and eight strong rebounds in 31 minutes, senior guard
Jaylen Franklin had five points, four rebounds and four assists and senior forward
Hayden Farquhar chipped in with five big points and one huge defensive rebound off the bench.
The Pioneers — who lost by just eight points (64-56) at No. 11 Kansas State on Monday — entered the game limiting opponents to just 57.0 points per game, and for the most part the game was played at Denver's pace. ACU had scored 107 and 94 points, respectively, in its first two games of the season, but slugged its way to a win over the Pioneers in the first meeting between the teams.
TURNING POINT
The Wildcats led 30-21 at halftime and then took a 33-21 lead early in the second half on a 3-pointer by Ricks, giving the Wildcats their biggest lead of the game. But Denver wouldn't fold and eventually cut the lead to 45-43 with 7:40 left in the game on a 3-pointer by Ade Murkey.
The teams battled back and forth before the Wildcats pushed ahead 55-51 after a pair of big free throws by Farquhar — who buried a straight-on 3-pointer with 6:16 left to put ACU up by six points — with 3:54 left in the game. Ronnie Harrell Jr. answered with a 3-pointer for the Pioneers to make it 55-54 with 3:39 left before Lewis made a pair of free throws with 3:15 to play, pushing the Wildcats back in front 57-54.
Denver had a chance to tie the game on its next possession when Ade Murkey made a layup and was fouled by Ricks, sending Murkey to the free throw line with the Wildcats' lead down to 57-56. Murkey, however, missed the free throw — a recurring theme in the second half for the Pioneers — and Franklin grabbed the rebound and pushed the ball up the floor.
With the shot clock running down, Franklin found
Jalone Friday at the top of the key and he buried a huge 3-pointer to push the lead back to 60-56 with 2:31 left in the game. Friday sat out most of the second half with four fouls and had just seven points, but the 3-pointer gave ACU the breathing room it needed.
The teams traded jumpers by Murkey and Lewis to leave ACU leading 62-58 with 1:42 left before they traded missed shots. After Harrell missed a 3-pointer with 46 seconds left, Franklin grabbed the rebound and passed ahead to Ricks, who was fouled with 39 seconds left. He calmly drilled both free throws to give ACU a 64-58 lead, essentially putting the game on ice.
Lewis made 3 of 4 free throws in the final 25 seconds to put ACU in front 67-58 before Donovan Carlisle hit a 3-pointer with eight seconds left for the final score.
THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
• Denver shot 63 percent from the field in the second half (17 of 27), but was 0 for 8 from the free throw line. The Pioneers finished 2 for 11 from the line on the night. ACU, meanwhile, was 11 for 12 at the line in the second half and 13 for 16 in the game.
• Lewis buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 5:42 left in the first half to give the Wildcats a 20-18 lead, and they would never trail again the rest of the night.
• In its first three seasons at the NCAA Division I level, the Wildcats were 0-18 in true non-conference Division I road games. Since the beginning of the 2016-17 season, however, the Wildcats are 5-7 in true non-conference road games with wins at New Hampshire, Charleston Southern, Campbell, Air Force and Denver.
QUOTABLE
"We got a big lead on them early in the second half and then we were able to withstand the punches they threw at us. We've got great depth on this team, and that showed up (Thursday night). I've said all along that, with this team, every night it's going to be a different guy leading the way and we saw that tonight with Ricks. We all believe he's going to be a special player and we saw why (Thursday). But he got a lot of help, especially from the guys off the bench. Their work might not show up in the stats, but I thought those guys were terrific, and that's what helped us get a win over a good team that's going to win a lot of games."
— ACU head coach Joe Golding
