ABILENE – Abilene Christian won its seventh consecutive game, gutting out a tough one against Seattle in Moody Coliseum Thursday night, 64-59.
Seattle came out strong with tough inside defense and strong moves to the basket to build a 17-9 lead over the first six minutes but the Wildcats would finish the half on an 8-0 run with five points coming from
Nasir DeGruy.
That flurry saw the half end in a 31-31 stalemate.
ACU led for most of the second half and had a nine-point lead midway through the final frame but the Redhawks rallied and took the lead, 56-55, with 1:54 to go.
Ali Abdou Dibba hit a jumper for a 57-56 lead on the ensuing ACU possession and never relinquished the lead.
Leonardo Bettiol had three of his 15 rebounds in the final 75 seconds.
Kavion McClain buried a huge three-pointer with 18 seconds to go to give ACU a little breathing room.
It was the seventh win in a row from a team that was on the outside looking in at 3-9 in the Western Athletic Conference three weeks ago.
"These guys just don't have any quit in them. They're resilient," said ACU Head Coach
Brette Tanner. "We just keep talking about being 1-0. We feel like our playoffs started a month and a half ago."
ACU forced 17 turnovers and limited the Redhawks to 21 percent shooting from the perimeter.
"The defensive effort that these guys have shown in the last month and a half: our offense has gotten better and we're shooting better percentages but that's because our defense has gotten better. We're staying in front of the ball. We're helping each other out. Guys step up and they had each other's back and that's why you win games."
Bettiol had a 10-point, 15-rebound double-double and Dibba and
Hunter Jack Madden added 13 points apiece.
The Wildcats finish off the regular season at home on Saturday, taking on Utah Valley at 3 p.m.
