BEAUMONT, Texas— The Wildcats began the new year on the road at Lamar in a matchup of the league's top two teams in scoring defense, and defense was the story from the start of the game. The Wildcats began the game missing their first six shots, as the Cardinals held them scoreless over the first five minutes of the game. ACU would return the favor towards the end of the first half as they held Lamar scoreless for over three minutes while they went on a 10-0 run to take a one-point lead. Lamar held the advantage at the half, 33-32.
The teams traded buckets through most of the second half and the Wildcats found themselves down 51-54 after a Lamar layup with just under nine minutes to play. On the team's next trip down the floor,
Coryon Mason hit a three to tie the game and the ACU defense responded by dominating the Cardinals down the stretch. The Wildcats held Lamar to just eight points and three field goals over the final eight and a half minutes and held on for the 74-62 win to move to 3-0 in Southland play.
Key Plays
- After the Cardinals took a large lead in the first half, it was the bench who kept the Wildcats in the game. Airion Simmons and Clay Gayman combined for 21 first half points to help the Wildcats finish the half just down one point.
- Coryon Mason's huge three to tie the game at 54 sparked the Wildcats run over the final minutes of the game.
- Mason also scored the first seven points of ACU's 23-8 run to close out the game.
- Damien Daniels found Joe Pleasant on the wing for a late three that pushed the Wildcats' lead to seven and push the momentum fully in ACU's favor.
- Payten Ricks had a steal and a layup with 2:20 left in the game that all but sealed the game for ACU.
Turning Point
The Wildcats defense became impenetrable as they held the Cardinals to just two points and no field goals over a seven-minute stretch late in the second half.
Stat Pack
- Joe Pleasant has continued his consistent play and led the team with 13 points on 5-8 shooting.
- Airion Simmons scored all 12 of his points in the first half while going 5-5 from the field, including 2-2 from three-point range.
- Clay Gayman and Kolton Kohl each grabbed seven boards in the game, six coming on the offensive end.
- The Wildcats had a plus-10 turnover margin (12-22) and totaled nine steals.
- ACU held a 14-10 advantage in offensive rebounds as well as a 17-8 advantage in second chance points.
- Six different Wildcats scored nine or more points.
- The Wildcats handed Lamar their first home loss in 11 games, theirlast loss also came to the Wildcats on Feb. 6 last season.
Gold Mine
On how his team's depth gave them the advantage: "I think our depth won the game for us tonight. They had to play at New Orleans on Thursday and we had all week to prepare and I think that showed down the stretch. Airion played great for us today but Mahki, Clay, Reggie and more guys gave us great minutes tonight. We just had great energy and depth today which gave us the advantage."
On his team's play in the second half: "We came out really well in the second half. We shot 50 percent for the half and we found ways to execute down the stretch. There was a three from Joe late in the shot clock as well as the big offensive rebound and dunk from Kohl, as well as some other great championship plays on our end."
On Ricks' stellar play without scoring: "Teams are running box-and-one's on him, denying him touches, and every shot he gets is so tough, he just needs to see one go through. He has great maturity on the defensive end, he gets deflections and steals and he is not just a shooter. Ricks is a two-way player and he is a great leader of this team."
Up Next
The Wildcats will return home for a much needed three-game home stretch beginning on Jan. 8. ACU will host McNeese at 7 p.m. looking to start conference play 4-0.
