ABILENE — Abilene Christian's men's basketball team returned home Wednesday night after a four-game stretch on the road. The Wildcats hosted the Stallions of North American University and put on a dominant defensive show as they forced 27 turnovers on the way to a 93-46 victory. ACU got out to a slow start, giving up a point on a flop technical and a three to give NAU the early 4-0 lead, but the team answered with a 19-4 run to push their lead to double digits. The Stallions didn't have an answer for the defensive intensity of the Wildcats as ACU moved to 4-4 on the season.
Key Plays
- A steal from Yuot Gai led to a bucket from Airion Simmons to give ACU their first lead on the night, 9-8.
- The Wildcats got back-to-back layups from Leonardo Bettiol and Ali Dibba to push their lead to 15 with seven minutes to play in the first half.
- Simmons hit a three late in the first half to give ACU their first 20-plus point lead and the team took a 22-point lead into halftime.
- Ja'Sean Jackson hit threes on back-to-back possessions within the first four minutes of the second half and pushed the Wildcats lead to 23.
- Immanuel Allen jumped a passing lane and took the ball down the court for a fastbreak layup and converted a three-point play that gave the Wildcats a 33-point lead.
- Damien Daniels picked the pocket of an offensive player and ran out for a layup on the other end to give ACU the 44-point lead with five and a half minutes to play.
- Muodubem Muoneke put an exclamation point on the win with a huge alley-oop slam off of a great feed from Hunter Jack Madden.
Stat Pack
- Immanuel Allen picked up where he left off the last two games and matched a season and career-high of 17 points. He went 10-11 from the charity stripe and grabbed six boards.
- Tobias Cameron secured his first-career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, including seven offensive rebounds.
- Damien Daniels tallied a season-high four steals that moved him into second place for career steals with 195.
- Leonardo Bettiol scored a career-high 11 points for his first game in double figures.
- The team's 27 forced turnovers and 15 steals matched season-highs.
- Cameron and Daniels hit a career milestone with the win tonight. Both players now have 100 career wins as an ACU Wildcat.
Coach Tanner Interview
Up Next
The Wildcats will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when they host Arlington Baptist at 2 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and can be listened to on the ACU Sports Network.
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