ABILENE – Sandwiched in between a pair of trips to California, the ACU Wildcats hosted Howard Payne in men's basketball action Tuesday night looking for a seventh straight win to start the season, a relaxing night at the office and the chance to give starters who played heavy minutes last weekend some much-needed rest.
But to its credit, Howard Payne didn't make it easy on the Wildcats, pushing the Wildcats throughout much of the first half before a 15-1 run to end the first half put ACU up 45-25 at halftime on its way to a 90-53 win over the Yellow Jackets. ACU is 7-0 on the season, continuing the best start for a Wildcat team since the 1998-99 team started 11-0.
ACU never trailed in the game, of which the outcome was never really in doubt. However, after jumping out to as much as a six-point lead early on, the Yellow Jackets pulled to within 22-18 with 7:43 left in the half on a Javaris Jones 3-pointer. But ACU finished the half on a 23-7 run, including 15-1 over the final 3:45 to carry a 20-point advantage into the halftime locker room. Seniors
Jaylen Franklin and
Jaren Lewis each scored four points in the run, while freshman
Joe Pleasant chipped with four more points. Junior
Jalone Friday buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key with there seconds left in the half to close the run.
The Wildcats ran away from the Yellow Jackets in the second half, taking their first 30-point lead at the 3:38 mark when redshirt freshman
Tobias Cameron made a layup to give ACU an 80-49 lead. The Wildcats' final 37-point margin was its biggest lead of the game.
The big second-half advantage allowed ACU head coach
Joe Golding to rest his veteran starters, all of whom played big minutes last weekend at the Tigers Thanksgiving Classic at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. However, the quintet of Franklin (7 minutes), Lewis (5 minutes),
Payten Ricks (8 minutes),
B.J. Maxwell (7 minutes) and Friday (5 minutes) combined to play just 32 second-half minutes and 93 overall.
Among the starters, Ricks (14 points) and Lewis (13 points) carried the scoring load, while Franklin had four points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals while not committing a turnover for the third time in seven games this season (second straight game). Franklin entered the game ninth in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio and that will only improve as he's now at a 7.0 ratio (35 assists to 5 turnovers).
Freshmen forwards
Joe Pleasant (game-high 15 points) and
Clay Gayman (13 points) led the Wildcats, while sophomore center
Kolton Kohl had nine points and eight rebounds, just missing his first career double-double.
The Wildcats will be back in action Saturday in Malibu, California, when they take on Pepperdine at Firestone Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. CT (5 p.m. Pacific time). The game will be broadcast on 98.1 FM The Ticket.
