ABILENE – Tuesday night's season-opening game against Arlington Baptist could scarcely have gone better for the ACU Wildcats.
The Wildcats were pushed a little bit early, ripped off a huge run to take control of the game, got plenty of playing time for all 14 players on the roster and cruised to a 107-54 win over the Patriots in front of a nice Moody Coliseum on the opening night of the 2018-19 college basketball season.
Senior forward
Jaren Lewis led all scorers with 18 points and four other Wildcats scored in double figures as ACU scored at least 100 points in a season-opener for the first since going for 101 in a 40-point win over Hillsdale Free Will Baptist on Nov. 14, 2014. In 98 season-openers since the first season in 1919-20, Tuesday night's 107-point output marked the 10th time ACU has scored at least 100 points in a season-opener.
Arlington Baptist actually led the game 9-7 with 15:49 left in the first half before ACU ripped off a 25-2 run to take a 32-11 lead with 9:11 left in the first half.
B.J. Maxwell — who had a career-high 14 points on the night — sparked the run with nine points on a pair of 3-pointers and a three-point play. Lewis had four points in the run, while junior guard
Payten Ricks and freshman forward
Joe Pleasant each had a 3-pointer, freshman
Damien Daniels added a layup and
Kolton Kohl had a layup.
The Patriots never posed a threat over the final 30 minutes of the contest as ACU improved to 5-0 all-time against the Patriots.
Aside from the 18 points posted by Lewis, Maxwell and Pleasant each had 14 points, while Ricks added 13 and
Clay Gayman 11.
Jalone Friday had nine points and three rebounds, while
Chase Cobb added a career-high eight points off the bench with a pair of 3-pointers, the first two of his collegiate career. Daniels finished with seven points, six assists and three rebounds in his Wildcat debut.
