ABILENE, Texas — The Wildcats bounced back and earned their second win of the evening on Tuesday, taking down the McMurry Warhawks, 101-55.
With the win, ACU now holds a 67-24 series lead over the Warhawks, which dates back to 1930. The win also marks the second time this season that ACU has scored over 100 points in a game this season. The Wildcats also improved their record to 2-1, after taking a hard loss to Middle Tennessee on Saturday evening.
"I was proud of our guys, because we worked on a lot of things," head coach Brette Tanner said. "After Saturday, we talked about some things that we needed to work on. We wanted to move, share and take care of the ball better, and that was my main focus tonight. I thought we did a good job of that so proud of the guys. We only had one day to prep for McMurry, so, would turn around and come back and do some of those things I was proud of."
ACU got out to a quick start in the first half on a 4-0 run, followed by a 6-0 run at the 12:20 mark and a 7-0 run at the 9:58 mark. The Wildcats grew their distance the most when the team went on a 13-0 from the 7:10 mark to the 3:58 mark in the first half.
The 13-0 was spearheaded by three consecutive 3-pointers from Colby Tanner, a free throw from Rich Smith and a 3-pointer from Hunter Jack Madden. Heading into halftime, ACU had a 48-17 lead while shooting 52.6 from the field and 43.8 from the 3-point line. ACU also held McMurry to 20 percent shooting in the half and drew 12 turnovers.
The 'Cats continued their strong shooting in the second half, shooting a combined 58.3 percent from the floor and 42.9 from behind the arch in the second half. ACU also had eight takeaways with five steals in the half. The game's final made shot was a Colby Tanner 3-pointer, giving ACU the dominant 101-56 win.
The Wildcats finished the game shooting 55.4 percent from the field and 43.3 percent from the 3-point line, a season-best. The team caused McMurry to commit 20 turnovers while ACU only had nine. The 'Cats also had a season-high 23 assists.
"Our turnovers have come from us trying to put our head down and to just penetrate the defense off the bounce. So today, we wanted to focus on sharing the ball, and we hit shots by playing inside out. Our first two turnovers early in the game came from us trying to drive baseline with maroon jerseys everywhere. So I called the timeout, we talked about it, and the guys settled in after that and shared the ball more."
Junior Colby Tanner led the Wildcats off the bench with a career-high 18 points, shooting 50 percent from the 3-point line in only 12 minutes of play. The sharpshooter son of head coach Brette Tanner tripled his previous career-high, which he earned six points against Howard Payne on November 4.
"I'm probably in trouble when I get home because his mom is going to ask why I don't play him more," Tanner said. "He works so hard, and so do other guys on the team that work hard and they don't get as many minutes and opportunities that. We've talked about giving him more chances because he can shoot it, and it's no secret what we struggled with so far this season. He took advantage of his opportunity, and so really proud of him as a dad, of course, but as a coach, and maybe even more proud because I see how hard he works every day."
Apart from Tanner, six other Wildcats scored in double-digits. Dontrez Williams was second in scoring with 14 points, followed by Yaniel Rivera and Hunter Jack Madden with 11 points. Leonardo Bettiol, Christian Alston and Cade Hornecker each added 10 points.
On deck, the Wildcats will close out their four-game homestead on Saturday in a second half of a doubleheader as the Wildcats take on the Texas State Bobcats. It'll be the first time the two programs have faced each other since 2019.
"This is the toughest schedule by far that we've ever played. We're playing top-notch mid-major basketball teams and got another one that's just as good Saturday at Texas State. So we're going to have to share the ball and take care of the ball even better than we did tonight to be successful on Saturday."
The game on Saturday, November 12 is set to begin at 2:30 p.m., with the game also airing on ESPN+ and 101.7 FM, The Patriot. If fans can't watch the game in person or stream it, fans can follow the game on X, Facebook, Instagram or acusports.com.
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