ABILENE— The Wildcats returned to Moody Coliseum on Thursday night after playing three of their four previous games on the road. The team has dropped all three road games and were looking to get a big win in their first game of a three-game home stand. ACU played host to Southeast Missouri, who came into Moody after the Wildcats played in Cape Girardeau, Mo. last season. The Wildcats were victorious in Missouri last season and they were able to back it up with a 73-64 win at home.
Key Plays
- Ricks made back-to-back threes early in the first half to push the Wildcats lead from one point to seven.
- The Wildcats did well sharing the ball in the first half dishing out seven of their 11 assists in the first 20 minutes of action.
- ACU opened the second half on a 17-8 run to earn their biggest lead of the night (19).
- In their early second half run, the Wildcats had five different players score.
- With under two minutes left in the game, SEMO cut the lead to eight points and forced a turnover but were unable to capitalize giving the ball back to the Wildcats who pushed their lead back to 10.
- ACU went 10-of-10 at the free throw line in the last two minutes of play to keep SEMO at bay.
Turning Point
The Wildcats used an 11-2 run to break open the game midway through the first half. Despite several late attempts to close the gap the Redhawks were never closer than seven points the rest of the game.
Stat Pack
- Joe Pleasant led the Wildcats in scoring once again, backing up his 20-point game at SMU with an 18-point performance tonight.
- Payten Ricks struggled shooting from the field, but went 7-of-7 from the line to put up 15 points and help keep SEMO at bay late in the game.
- Damien Daniels returned to the starting lineup for ACU and put up a solid line with nine points, four rebounds and four assists.
- ACU put together one of the better shooting performances, making 41 percent of their shots from the field, but they continue to struggle from deep shooting just 26 percent from beyond-the-arc in the game.
- Kolton Kohl scored ten points for his fourth game in double figures on the season.
- The Redhawks had three players score in double figures led by DQ Nicholas who scored 14 of his points at the charity stripe.
- The Wildcats bench outscored SEMO's bench 19-5.
Gold Mine
On his team's resilience: "I am just really proud of our guys. I have been telling them that we deserve to win and we have just come up short in previous games. This is an awesome group of guys and we are happy to have this win and to get it at home in front of a great crowd."
Up Next
ACU returns to Moody Coliseum for a Saturday night matchup against Dallas Christian College this weekend, Dec. 7. The game tips at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN3.
