Four 'Cats in double figures in loss to Sam Houston

ABILENE — Senior Joe Pleasant led the way with a near double-double of 13 points and nine rebounds, four players finished with double-digit point totals, but the ACU men's basketball team fell to Sam Houston, 77-62, on Saturday night at Moody Coliseum. The Wildcats' three-game winning streak came to an end to a now 18-win Bearkat bunch, who grabbed the lead late in the first half and never relinquished. ACU (13-12, 5-7 WAC) got off to a remarkable start Saturday, hitting each of its first seven shots and eight of its first nine to build up a lead. Sam Houston (18-6, 8-4 WAC) responded and used a key 14-3 run in the second half to pull away late, leaving Moody with a 15-point win. ACU will hit the road next week as we hit the final three weeks of the regular season.

Key Plays

• ACU was white hot to begin the night. The 'Cats hit their first seven attempts from the floor, and the first seven points came from three different players. Pleasant scored early inside, and Daniels followed with a three-pointer. Ali Abdou Dibba cashed in on a layup after a Daniels steal to push the early lead to 7-3.
• Immanuel Allen, back in the lineup after missing four-straight games, kept the early run going with a triple of his own, and Pleasant and Dibba combined for five more to go up 17-8 at the 14:53 mark of the half.
• ACU led 19-10, but Sam Houston closed in with a 7-0 run to get within two, only to see Allen respond with a big three. ACU pushed the lead back to seven with 7:43 to go in the half, and that is when the Bearkats made a run.
• Sam Houston closed the first half on a 17-5 run to go up 37-32 at the intermission.
• The Bearkats led by nine, 44-35, with 16:16 to go in the ballgame, but ACU made a run to get back in it. Tobias Cameron and Pleasant combined for four consecutive free throws and Allen converted a layup to get back within three, 44-41.
• Pleasant made two free throws, then hit a jumper inside to make it a three-point game, 57-54, with 9:01 to play in the game. The game went on one final stretch for Sam Houston, adn ACU would score a grand total of eight points the rest of the way. SHSU outscored ACU 20-8 in the final nine minutes of the game.

Turning Point
The final nine minutes were hard to score points. Sam Houston hit a couple of three-pointers back-to-back, including one off the back board from straight away, and ACU came up empty on its trips down the floor, and the lead was becoming hard to overcome. Sam Houston went on a key 14-3 run in a six-minute stretch to pull away.

Stat Pack

• Pleasant led the way with 13 on 4-10 shooting, and went 5-5 at the foul line. He finished one rebound short of a double-double as well.
• Daniels, in foul trouble throughout the night, dropped 11 on 4-7 shooting, and added three assists and a steal. The steal moves him into number one on the all-time steal list in ACU history (221), passing Jaylen Franklin.
• Allen scored 11 on 4-8 including three triples.
• Hunter Jack Madden scored 10 in 20 minutes on 4-7 shooting.
• ACU hit 10 three-pointers and shot 39% from the floor for the night. A big difference was rebounding; Sam Houston out-rebounded ACU 38-23. ACU forced 15 Bearkat turnovers and scored 11 points off turnovers Saturday. Sam outscored ACU 38-18 in points in the paint as well.

Up Next
The Wildcats will await the word from the WAC on next week's game at NM State, but as of Saturday night, ACU is scheduled to play at the Aggies on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 8 p.m. CT. ACU will close the week with a nationally-televised game at Grand Canyon on Friday, Feb. 17 at 10 p.m. CT on ESPNU. Both games will air on the ACU Sports Network as well. We will update the NM State game as we get further updates.

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