ABILENE – Junior guard
B.J. Maxwell scored a career-high 19 points and senior center
Jalone Friday reached 1,000 career points behind a 17-point effort in the Wildcats' wire-to-wire 78-69 win Saturday night over Northwestern State at Moody Coliseum.
The victory lifted Abilene Christian's overall and conference records to 16-3 and 5-1, while the Demons slipped to 7-11 and 2-3 despite receiving 39 points from its bench and a team-high 16 from guard LaTerrance Reed.
ACU's offense was on cruise control for much of the first half as the Wildcats finished with six 3-pointers in shooting 46.9 percent from the field. A triple by
Payten Ricks (10 points) at the 14:49 mark gave the Wildcats their first double-digit lead of the game at 14-3, and at around the 8-minute mark of the first half Friday and freshman
Clay Gayman hit consecutive 3-pointers within a span of 30 seconds.
Friday buried all three of his first half 3-point attempts with the third (taken at the 1:03 mark) sending him over 1,000 career points. He is the fourth player coached by
Joe Golding to reach this milestone, joining teammates
Jaren Lewis (1,362),
Jaylen Franklin (1,257) and alumnus
Parker Wentz (1,062).
The Wildcats went into the break up by 16 points at 44-28 and soon pushed their lead to 22 points 3:13 into the second half on a layup by Franklin, who had six points, three assists and three rebounds on 3-3 shooting. But soon after the Demons began connecting on some long-range shots (five in the second half after starting the game 1-11), and Brian White's trey at the 8:16 mark made it a 12-point game at 58-46. Then Northwestern State cut its deficit to single digits on its next possession as Ishmael Lane converted a 3-point play.
But ACU answered back with Friday converting his own 'and 1', and about a minute later Maxwell and Ricks connected on consecutive 3-pointers with each assisting the other. Ricks' bucket put the Wildcats back up by 16 points (69-53) with 5:19 to go, and after the Demons cut it back to 10 with less than 2:30 remaining, the Wildcats countered with back-to-back layups by Franklin and
Hayden Farquhar.
Lewis dropped in the Wildcats' final field goal with just under a minute remaining to finish with 15 points and nine rebounds, and put the Wildcats ahead by 13 at 78-65.
The Wildcats return to action Wednesday at Stephen F. Austin. Tip off time against the Lumberjacks is set for 6:30 and can be seen on ESPN+.
Grant Boone also will have the call for 98.1 FM – The Ticket.
