ABILENE, Texas— The Wildcats defended home court yet again as they beat Houston Baptist, 81-67, and moved to 9-4 in Southland play. ACU held the Huskies to a season-low 67 points, well below their season average of 81 points per game. Once again, the Wildcats got out to a fast start leading by as many as 16 points through the first 12 minutes of action. ACU held a 17-point advantage at the half and never looked back as they hovered around a 20-point lead through most of the second half. The Wildcats offense went cold late, but they held on for the 14-point victory over the lowly Huskies.
Southland Significance
With the win, the Wildcats remain just half a game out of second place behind Nicholls and holds a half game lead over Sam Houston State. The Wildcats will have two top-four matchups at home after their three-game road swing.
Key Plays
- Clay Gayman got out to a great start for the Wildcats scoring the first five points of the game. He also had 14 of the Wildcats' first 28 points.
- A three from Hayden Howell gave ACU an 11-point lead early in the first half, just his second made three on the year.
- Back-to-back buckets from Kolton Kohl and Trey Lenox helped ACU push their lead to 18 late in the first half.
- Payten Ricks opened the second half with a three to push the ACU lead to 20 points.
- Kohl cleaned up his teammate's miss for a putback dunk that helped him to double digit scoring off the bench.
- An and-1 play from Howell followed by a three from Ricks helped push the Wildcats lead to 25 points late in the second half.
Turning Point
The Wildcats got out to a 10-point lead through just five and a half minutes of action and never looked back as they held a double-digit advantage the rest of the way.
Stat Pack
- ACU put together another solid shooting effort hitting 50 percent of their field goals and going 8-20 from three-point range.
- Coryon Mason scored just four points in the game but dished out seven assists and grabbed four boards on the night to fill up the stat sheet.
- The Wildcats outscored the Huskies 42-24 in the paint.
- Houston Baptist outrebounded the Wildcats 39-32 and 13-8 on offensive boards.
- Clay Gayman went 7-10 from the field, including 2-2 from three to total 19 points on the night.
- The Wildcats' 24 assists were a season-high against a DI opponent.
- This is ACU's first Wednesday win in 2020.
Up Next
The Wildcats head on a three-game road swing beginning with a trip to Corpus-Christi to face the Islanders on Saturday. The game tips at approximately 3:30 p.m. immediately following the women's game.
