CONWAY, Arkansas — Four years ago, then-ACU freshmen
Jaylen Franklin,
Jaren Lewis and
Hayden Farquhar won their first Southland Conference road game at the Farris Center in the 2015-16 conference-opener, beating Central Arkansas by a single point.
Saturday afternoon in the same building, the three seniors closed out their Southland Conference road careers in style as they led a Wildcat comeback win over Central Arkansas that tied the school's single-season wins record and, unofficially at least, secured no worse than the fourth seed in the conference postseason tournament and a first-round bye.
Lewis finished with 16 points, Franklin 12 in his final game 30 miles from his hometown and Farquhar nine off the bench as ACU recovered from an early 13-3 deficit to whip the Bears, 67-55. The victory pushes the Wildcats to 23-6 overall and 12-4 in the Southland and ties the 1979-80 team for most wins in a regular season.
The Wildcats close out the regular season next week with two home games: Tuesday vs. Stephen F. Austin and then a Senior Day game next Saturday against Incarnate Word. The Wildcats can guarantee themselves the No. 2 seed in the tournament and the double-bye into the semifinals with wins over the Lumberjacks and Cardinals, which would then leave them just two wins away from the NCAA Tournament.
ACU did it Saturday night with its season-long calling card: defense.
The league's top defensive team in terms of scoring defense (league-low 63.7 points per game allowed) shut down the Bears after UCA jumped out to leads of 13-3 and 17-6 as they hit 5 of their first 7 3-point shots. The Bears led 17-6 just 6:15 into the game and the Wildcats put the clamps on UCA.
ACU outscored the Bears 61-38 over the final 33:45 of the contest to turn an 11-point deficit into an 11-point win. The Bears hit 6 of their first 10 shots from the field to take that 11-point lead, and then the Wildcats turned up the defensive pressure. UCA hit just 8 of its last 20 shots from the field in the first half and then made just 9 of 29 shots from the floor in the second half.
The Wildcats led 39-37 at halftime and then allowed just 10 points in the first 15 minutes of the second half to pull out to as much as a 16-point lead (63-47) on a layup by
Kolton Kohl with 5:13 left in the contest. ACU took a 36-35 lead with 42 seconds left in the first half on a bucket by
Jaren Lewis, and
Payten Ricks — who finished with 11 points — closed out the half with a corner 3-pointer to give ACU the halftime lead.
ACU never trailed in the second half as UCA never found its range, missing all seven of its 3-point attempts and hitting just 5 of its first 25 shots in the second half.
While the Bears were having trouble solving the ACU defense, the Wildcats picked up the pace on the offensive end. After missing 10 of their first 11 shots, the Wildcats closed the half by making 14 of their last 23 shots from the floor, and then hitting 12 of 26 shots from the floor in the second half. The Wildcats hit 26 of their last 49 shots from the field to put the Bears away.
Franklin — playing in front of approximately 50 family and friends who will all be taking in his final two regular-season home games next week in Abilene — finished the game with 12 points, six rebounds, eight assists and three steals in 39 minutes.
Lewis had 16 points, nine rebounds, two assists and three steals in 35 minutes, while Farquhar came off the bench for nine points and four rebounds. The three seniors left the floor inside the final minute to a loud ovation from the large contingent of ACU fans in attendance.
