Box Score STEPHENVILLE — Tarleton State outscored ACU 15-2 over a critical five-minute stretch of the first half Thursday night, and the Texans never let off the gas en route to a 67-52 win over the Wildcats in a key Western Athletic Conference contest between the old rivals in what was their final meeting in Wisdom Gym, the Texans' home since 1970.
With the win, the Texans improved to 12-17 overall and 7-7 in the WAC and are now in fourth place in the league, leapfrogging ACU, which falls to 14-14 and 6-7. The loss snapped ACU's five-game winning streak, which saw them surge from the bottom of the WAC pack to fourth place in the league. ACU is fifth in the league standings, but that could change based on Thursday night's late results. The Wildcats are back in action Saturday at 2 p.m. at UT-Arlington in the team's final regular-season road game.
ACU led the Texans 12-6 with 15:53 left after a Bradyn Hubbard layup, but just 30 seconds later, Chris Mpaka converted on the first of three first-half dunks to ignite the game-changing 15-2 run that swung the game in Tarleton's favor. During the run, Mpaka had three dunks and a layup for eight points, and Dantawn Grimes scored seven as they were the only two Texans that scored.
The Wildcats broke the run on a free throw by Christian Alston at the 10:44 mark, and Leo Bettiol made a layup with 10:14 to play to cut the lead to 21-17. But the Wildcats finished the first half in a prolonged shooting slump as they made just 5 of 16 shots from the field in the final 15:05
The Texans finished the first half on a 16-8 run that sent them to the halftime locker room leading 37-25. ACU cut Tarleton's lead to six points twice in the second half — the last time coming on a Quion Williams jumper in the paint that made it a 46-40 game with 11:42 left to play.
But the Texans responded with a 9-2 burst to push the lead back to 13 points, 55-42, with 8:40 left in the game. ACU would never get closer than 10 points the rest of the night.
Bettiol (12 points) and Hubbard (11) were the only Wildcats scoring double figures as ACU struggled to put the ball in the basket. The Wildcats were just 4 of 15 from 3-point range (26.7 percent) and 6 of 13 (46 percent) from the free throw line.
Tarleton State will begin playing in the new $110 million University Event Center next year. The 10,000-seat arena is scheduled to open this summer on the Tarleton campus.
