Simmons paces ACU with 20 in defeat at GCU

PHOENIX — Senior Airion Simmons led the way with 20 points, four players finished with 10 or more, but the ACU men's basketball team fell to Grand Canyon in a high-scoring, 94-84 contest Saturday night. The Wildcats went up against a Lopes team that shot 67% from the floor for the game, but Abilene Christian (13-13, 7-8 WAC) hung around the entire night and took it down to the wire in front of a nationally televised audience. ACU played in just its third-ever nationally televised regular season game, and set a D1 program record for fewest turnovers in the game as well (3). ACU only played once this week, and will return home for a pair of games next week, beginning with SFA on Wednesday night.

Key Plays

• ACU got down 8-0 and 12-4 early, but battled back. Trailing 16-10, Cameron Steele converted a three-pointer to make it a one-possession game again at the 12:43 mark of the first half.
• The teams traded punches from that point forward. GCU built up as much as an eight-point lead in the half, but redshirt freshman Leonardo Bettiol cut it down to one, 37-36, with a turnaround hook shot in the paint.
• Ali Abdou Dibba would give ACU the lead on a fast-break bucket to give the visitors the lead, 38-37. However, ACU would get outscored 11-4 to close the half and trailed by six at the break.
• GCU led 51-44 right away in the second half, but the 'Cats would go on a 12-3 run at that point to take the lead. ACU led a couple times on back-to-back possessions, but then GCU took over a bit.
• The Lopes grabbed a 63-62 lead, and then were able to push it out to 10, 77-67. ACU had another run in them though. Tobias Cameron hit all three free throws after a foul at the wing and the sixth-year made it a 79-75 lead for GCU with 3:46 to play. GCU's next five points happened in back-to-back trips, though, and the lead was back to nine for Grand Canyon. The home team pulled away one final time to top ACU by 10.

Turning Point
The final three-and-a-half minutes belonged to the Lopes. ACU had chances to not only trim the deficit, but to maybe tie it or grab the lead. ACU trailed 79-75 after the Cameron free throws, but got outscored 15-9 the rest of the way. The Lopes continued their hot shooting in the second half, making 68% from the floor in the second stanza to pull away late.

Stat Pack

• Simmons led the way with 20 points on 6-13 shooting including a trio fo three-pointers and a 5-6 night at the foul line. Simmons grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists.
• Damien Daniels scored 12 points on 5-11 shooting, and did no while committing four personal fouls.
• Dibba scored 11 to pair up with a team-high five rebounds.
• Joe Pleasant tallied 11 points with four boards as well.
• ACU turned it over just three times in the game, which sets a new mark for the fewest in a game in ACU's Division I history. The Wildcats had turned it over six times, the previous low, with the latest time coming in the 2014-15 season.
• ACU scored 25 points off 17 GCU turnovers Friday.
• The game aired on ESPNU. It was just the third-ever nationally televised regular season game for the Wildcats.
• GCU held a 35-22 edge in rebounding, and the Lopes shot 67% from the floor for the game and hit 10 three-pointers.

Up Next
The Wildcats will head back home for a pair of games next week. SFA comes to town on Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. before hosting Utah Valley on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 6 p.m. Both games will air on ESPN+.

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