Simmons and Steele lead Wildcats to a tough WAC road win

Thursday, December 30

Orem, Utah

7 P.M.

Abilene Christian

10-2,1-0WAC

Utah Valley

9-4,0-1WAC

Abilene Christian

Utah Valley

Photo by: Cassie Kelley

Simmons and Steele lead Wildcats to a tough WAC road win

12/30/2021 11:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

OREM, Utah — The Wildcats started their WAC era with a huge road win over Utah Valley behind career nights from Cameron Steele and Airion Simmons. Abilene Christian turned the Wolverines over 17 times, scored 38 points inside, and dished out 23 assists on 31 made field goals. The 80-76 win was ACU's 10^th-straight win to move the team to 10-2 on the year.

Key Plays

Cameron Steele hit back-to-back threes early in the game that gave ACU an 8-5 lead.
Damien Daniels went the length of the court for a fastbreak layup that gave the Wildcats a 15-9 lead and forced an early UVU timeout.
Logan McLaughlin gave ACU their largest lead of the game up to that point with a wing three that put the Wildcats up nine with 6:31 left in the first half.
Daniels gave the Wildcats a 12-point lead with a three of his own, but the Wolverines came back with a 10-0 run behind two big threes from Le'Tre Darthard.
The Wildcats went up by nine with just over a minute left to play in the first half behind a three from Airion Simmons.
UVU's Blaze Nield hit two threes to cut the halftime lead to three, including a 50-foot prayer at the buzzer.
The teams traded buckets at the start of the second half and the Wildcats held a five-point lead after Simmons buried another three with 17:29 to play.
Utah Valley then took their first lead since 18:32 in the first half behind back-to-back threes from Nield.
Tobias Cameron gave the Wildcats a four-point lead with a three at just under 11 minutes to play.
Simmons was able to give the Wildcats another double-digit lead late with a layup to put ACU up 70-60.
Up eight with just over a minute left to play, the Wolverines put on a press that forced two Wildcat turnovers and cut the ACU lead to just three.
Airion Simmons and Damien Daniels hit clutch free throws down the stretch that sealed the win for the Wildcats.

Stat Pack

A career-high night for Cameron Steele featured 17 points, nine rebounds, and four assists.
Airion Simmons also notched a career-high in points with 21 on 8-12 shooting and 3-5 from long range.
Blaze Nield hit a career-high seven threes for the Wolverines.
The Wildcats shot 49 percent from the field and 40 percent from deep.
ACU forced just 17 turnovers but still boasted a plus-11 margin as they took care of the ball with just six turnovers of their own. The team also registered 12 steals on the night.
Reggie Miller led ACU with five assists and three other players registered four on the night.
The Wildcats had big advantages in bench points (24-2), points in the paint (38-26), and fastbreak points (13-8).

Up Next
ACU will have a quick turnaround as they face Dixie State on Saturday night at 7 p.m. MT. The Trailblazers are coming off of a loss to Tarleton in their WAC opener and ACU will look for their 11^th-straight win.

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