KATY, Texas —After securing the triple-bye in the tournament, the Wildcats finally got the chance to get back on the court to defend their Southland Conference tournament title from 2019. ACU tipped at 8 p.m. in the second of two semifinal matchups and from first tip the Wildcats had their foot on the gas.
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Joe Pleasant three got the scoring started for the Wildcats and ACU piled it on from there. The team did a phenomenal job at forcing turnovers that led to scores on the other end and shot an efficient 53 percent from the field. The Wildcats came away with the dominant 93-71 victory and will be back in action in the championship game tomorrow night.
Key Plays
- Up 5-4 early in the game, the Wildcats went on a 10-0 run capped by an Airion Simmons three that helped ACU get separation early.
- Coryon Mason took a feed from Simmons on a back door cut and threw down a monster dunk that got the bench and the crowd on their feet while giving the Wildcats a 13-point lead.
- Simmons' third three of the game put the Wildcats up 36-18 with just over six minutes left to play in the first half.
- Clay Gayman converted a three-point play after drawing the foul on a layup that pushed the Wildcats to a 24-point lead.
- Mason hit a three off a feed from Kolton Kohl to open the second half scoring for ACU that pushed the Wildcats lead back to 24.
- Damien Daniels hit a corner three that stopped a Lamar run after they had cut the ACU lead to 16.
- The Wildcats would go on a 21-8 run capped by a Clay Gayman dunk and then a steal at the other end and a feed to Tobias Cameron for a fastbreak layup that sealed the game for ACU, putting them up 29 points.
Stat Pack
- ACU forced 16 turnovers on the night and turned that into 29 points on the other end.
- 11 different Wildcats scored with four different players hitting the double figure mark.
- Kolton Kohl hit the 20-point plateau for the third time on the year and scored 14 of his 20 points in the first half.
- Simmons had a dominant first half, hitting all five of his shots and going 3-3 from deep to also score 14 in the first half.
- The team dished out 22 assists on 34 made buckets.
- The team shot at a high level on the night, 53 percent from the field, 43 percent from three and 76 percent from the free throw line.
Up Next
ACU will play again tomorrow at 8:30 p.m. in the Southland Conference championship game against the regular season champions, Nicholls. The game will air live on ESPN 2 and will be broadcast on 102.7 The Bear.
