ABILENE – Prairie View A&M played its style of basketball and captured a 79-74 win over Abilene Christian in Moody Coliseum on Tuesday.
The Panthers entered the game as one of Division I's better teams at getting to the free-throw line. Not only did they get there for 34 attempts, they converted 33 for 97 percent.
"I told our guys before the game started that we have got to be the most aggressive team or we won't like the outcome," said ACU Head Coach
Brette Tanner. "And we weren't. They were more aggressive than us. It shows by them going in the free-throw line 34 times and they made 33 of them. I think that this is probably what we needed to be honest with you. And I want to give credit to Prairie View A&M. They were locked in they were ready to play."
The Wildcats got its defense rolling for three minutes in the first half and were able to stretch a two-point deficit with a nine-point lead.
Nasir DeGruy started a 15-4 run with a three-point play. He had five points and
Kavion McClain added four in the spree that gave the Cats a 36-27 lead with 2:06 to go in the half.
PVAM was able to narrow that gap to 37-35 by halftime.
ACU held a slim lead until the 13:49 mark of the second half and the game went down to the wire.
Airion Simmons scored in the paint to make it a one-point game with 1:08 to play, 75-74, but the Wildcats couldn't get the clutch baskets from there.
ACU had a strong showing at the free throw line itself, hitting 79 percent on 23-29 shooting but didn't make the strong moves needed.
"I just thought we settled," Tanner said "We didn't play physical we were not the most aggressive team and that's the message tonight."
Ali Abdou Dibba led the Cats with 16 points and
Hunter Jack Madden added 14. Madden hit four of his six three-point attempts.
Cameron Steele had a team-high nine rebounds to go with his seven points.
Chris Felix Jr. scored 25 points and Andre Nunley added 22, going 12-12 from the free throw line.
ACU now heads to the Virgin Islands where they will play San Jose State in a true tournament format at the Paradise Jam, starting at 3:15 p.m. on Friday.
