ABILENE—After a tough battle with SEMO on Thursday night, the Wildcats backed it up with a dominant performance against Dallas Christian. Less than 48 hours after earning their first DI win, ACU was able to put together one of their best all around performances holding the Crusaders to just 34 points.
Clay Gayman led the team offensively with 18 points, one of four Wildcats with double-digit scoring, and ACU won 102-34.
Key Plays
- Ball movement was key for the Wildcats and the first four baskets were scored by four different ACU players.
- Payten Ricks hit back-to-back threes late in the first half to push the Wildcats' lead to 24.
- Clay Gayman scored two baskets in the last minute of the game including hammering home a dunk as the last second rolled off the clock in the first half.
- Gayman also had two huge buckets in the second half where he hit a three and came back down and had a dunk within 30 seconds.
- Airion Simmons played well in the second half and totaled eight points and nine rebounds.
- Tobias Cameron also came off the bench late to provide a spark with seven points in the second half.
Turning Point
ACU started the game with great energy and built a 10-2 lead, but it was their defense that held the Crusaders to just four points over the final 10:42 in the first half that allowed them to gain the 51-15 advantage at the half.
Stat Pack
- The Wildcats defense put up their best numbers in the DI-era holding DCC to just 34 points, the lowest score since ACU made the transition.
- It was also the lowest opponent score since the 2005-06 season when the team held Grace College to 32 points.
- This was the team's largest margin of victory in the DI-era as well at 68 points, just surpassing the 67-point win over Southwest Adventist in 2013-14, the first year of their transition.
- Ricks hit three three-pointers to score nine points in just 11 minutes of action.
- Hayden Howell had one of his best performances totaling 14 points and five rebounds.
Gold Mine
On his team's overall performance: "We did a great job, we had some guys hit shots in rhythm that we weren't hitting earlier in the season and that helped us offensively. Looking back to Champion Christian we gave up a lot of threes in that game and we did a much better job defensively to hold them to just 34 points."
On Tobias' energy: "We were able to get a lot of different guys minutes tonight and this is the time when they can earn more minutes. Tobias came into the game tonight and he dives on the floor when we are up by 30. He had four offensive rebounds and gave us great energy off of the bench. That's the right way to play the game and it's how you get more minutes."
Up Next
ACU has four days off before hosting Howard Payne next Thursday in their last game before conference play. The game tips at 6 p.m.
