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Contributed by: Lance Fleming, ACU Associate Director of Athletics for Media Relations
ABILENE - Just when it appeared the ACU Wildcats were going to let a 25-point second-half lead slip away Tuesday night, an old friend shot them back to a comfortable lead before their freshman sensation finally slammed the door on Houston Baptist.
Playing as well as they've played all season, the Wildcats built a 21-point halftime lead and pushed it to 25 points early in the second half before the Huskies rallied to within three points with less than one minute to play. That's when ACU head coach Joe Golding told his coaching staff in a timeout exactly what was about to happen.
"I told them I was giving the ball to 'zero' and telling everybody else to get out of the way," Golding said after the game.
That turned out to be great strategy as 'zero' - also known as ACU freshman guard Jaylen Franklin - drove to the basket and a layup with the shot clock winding down to put the Wildcats back up by five points with 21 seconds to play as they held on to beat HBU, 79-72.
The win for ACU was a big one as it pushes the Wildcats to 10-12 overall and 5-4 in the Southland Conference, and in the process they snapped HBU's 10-game winning streak. The Wildcats' 10th win of the season matches their total from the entire 2014-15 season, and their fifth conference win is one more than last year's total of four and just one less from their combined total of six conference wins in the program's first two years as the NCAA Division I level.
ACU also improved to 4-0 at home in conference play with wins over Northwestern State, McNeese State, Lamar and Houston Baptist. Winning and playing well at home and maintaining home court advantage has been one of Golding's main thrusts for getting the program pointed in the right direction. Tuesday's win was another step toward making that happen as the Wildcats took down a team that was 14-7 overall and 8-0 in the Southland Conference entering the game.
HBU has a big home game Saturday against Stephen F. Austin, and the Huskies entered Tuesday night's game hoping to enter that game 9-0 and making that contest a game for outright first place in the league. That won't happen, thanks to inspired play from the Wildcats early and big shots from senior guard Parker Wentz and others late.
ACU missed its first four 3-pointers in the first half and trailed 16-13 before the Wildcats ripped off a 21-2 run to take a 34-18 lead, an advantage that eventually stretched out to 22 points before settling at 50-29 at halftime. The Wildcats 7 of their last 9 3-point attempts and had the Moody Coliseum crowd roaring in approval.
"We had a great start and played a great first half," Golding said. "But we know Houston Baptist is a really good team and that they would come back at us and we'd have to withstand some punches."
After ACU pushed its lead to as much as 25 points (56-31) with 16:28 left in the game on a layup from Duran Porter, the Huskies ripped off the first of two huge second-half runs to get back into the game. Over the next six-plus minutes, the Huskies outscored ACU 19-2 to get to within 58-50 with 9:40 to play.
That's when the momentum swung back to the Wildcats when Anthony Odunsi missed a short jumper and the rebound was tracked down by Austin Cooke, who then pushed the ball ahead to Isaiah Tripp. The sophomore from Baltimore had an open layup but Alex Franklin was whistled for a flagrant foul, sending Tripp to the free throw line.
Tripp hit both free throws to make it 60-50 before Franklin hit a short jumper to make it a 62-50 game with 8:35 to play as ACU scored four points on the possession. Wentz then pushed the Wildcats even further ahead with back-to-back 3-pointers; the first on an inbounds play and the second from the corner, giving his team a 68-50 lead and breathing room with 7:19 to play.
The Huskies, however, had other ideas as they rallied again, ripping off a 22-7 run over the next six-plus minutes to trim ACU's lead to 75-72 with 47 seconds left. One of the Wildcats' baskets in the HBU run was a huge layup at the shot-clock buzzer by Jalen Little, keeping ACU's lead at eight points (75-67) with 1:16 play. But when Colter Lasher's 3-pointer from the top of the key found the bottom of the bucket, the Huskies were within 75-72 with plenty of time left on the clock.
But that's when Franklin took matters into his own hands and, as he's done over and over all season and did time after time Tuesday night, he drove into the lane and curled a layup into the bucket for a 77-72 lead with 21 seconds to play. Odunsi missed a jumper on HBU's ensuing possession and freshman Jaren Lewis came down with the rebound and hit two free throws after he was fouled for the final 79-72 outcome.
"When we got the lead to 25 points, I thought that if we could put together one more run that we might be able to put them away," Golding said. "But then we got a little bit tight and they started hitting shots and the game turned. But we keep telling our guys that we gotta find a way to win, and (Tuesday) we did that. The flagrant foul on Tripp was huge, and then the 3-pointers from Parker allowed us to breathe a little bit again."
Franklin led four Wildcats in double figures with a team-high 21 points, while Wentz had 18 points (5 of 7 from 3-point range), Little had 11 and freshman Hayden Howell came off the bench to score a career-high 12 points.
The Wildcats will be back in action Saturday at 4 p.m. in Hammond, La., to take on Southeastern Louisiana before playing at Lamar next Monday night.
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ABILENE - Just when it appeared the ACU Wildcats were going to let a 25-point second-half lead slip away Tuesday night, an old friend shot them back to a comfortable lead before their freshman sensation finally slammed the door on Houston Baptist.
Playing as well as they've played all season, the Wildcats built a 21-point halftime lead and pushed it to 25 points early in the second half before the Huskies rallied to within three points with less than one minute to play. That's when ACU head coach Joe Golding told his coaching staff in a timeout exactly what was about to happen.
"I told them I was giving the ball to 'zero' and telling everybody else to get out of the way," Golding said after the game.
That turned out to be great strategy as 'zero' - also known as ACU freshman guard Jaylen Franklin - drove to the basket and a layup with the shot clock winding down to put the Wildcats back up by five points with 21 seconds to play as they held on to beat HBU, 79-72.
The win for ACU was a big one as it pushes the Wildcats to 10-12 overall and 5-4 in the Southland Conference, and in the process they snapped HBU's 10-game winning streak. The Wildcats' 10th win of the season matches their total from the entire 2014-15 season, and their fifth conference win is one more than last year's total of four and just one less from their combined total of six conference wins in the program's first two years as the NCAA Division I level.
ACU also improved to 4-0 at home in conference play with wins over Northwestern State, McNeese State, Lamar and Houston Baptist. Winning and playing well at home and maintaining home court advantage has been one of Golding's main thrusts for getting the program pointed in the right direction. Tuesday's win was another step toward making that happen as the Wildcats took down a team that was 14-7 overall and 8-0 in the Southland Conference entering the game.
HBU has a big home game Saturday against Stephen F. Austin, and the Huskies entered Tuesday night's game hoping to enter that game 9-0 and making that contest a game for outright first place in the league. That won't happen, thanks to inspired play from the Wildcats early and big shots from senior guard Parker Wentz and others late.
ACU missed its first four 3-pointers in the first half and trailed 16-13 before the Wildcats ripped off a 21-2 run to take a 34-18 lead, an advantage that eventually stretched out to 22 points before settling at 50-29 at halftime. The Wildcats 7 of their last 9 3-point attempts and had the Moody Coliseum crowd roaring in approval.
"We had a great start and played a great first half," Golding said. "But we know Houston Baptist is a really good team and that they would come back at us and we'd have to withstand some punches."
After ACU pushed its lead to as much as 25 points (56-31) with 16:28 left in the game on a layup from Duran Porter, the Huskies ripped off the first of two huge second-half runs to get back into the game. Over the next six-plus minutes, the Huskies outscored ACU 19-2 to get to within 58-50 with 9:40 to play.
That's when the momentum swung back to the Wildcats when Anthony Odunsi missed a short jumper and the rebound was tracked down by Austin Cooke, who then pushed the ball ahead to Isaiah Tripp. The sophomore from Baltimore had an open layup but Alex Franklin was whistled for a flagrant foul, sending Tripp to the free throw line.
Tripp hit both free throws to make it 60-50 before Franklin hit a short jumper to make it a 62-50 game with 8:35 to play as ACU scored four points on the possession. Wentz then pushed the Wildcats even further ahead with back-to-back 3-pointers; the first on an inbounds play and the second from the corner, giving his team a 68-50 lead and breathing room with 7:19 to play.
The Huskies, however, had other ideas as they rallied again, ripping off a 22-7 run over the next six-plus minutes to trim ACU's lead to 75-72 with 47 seconds left. One of the Wildcats' baskets in the HBU run was a huge layup at the shot-clock buzzer by Jalen Little, keeping ACU's lead at eight points (75-67) with 1:16 play. But when Colter Lasher's 3-pointer from the top of the key found the bottom of the bucket, the Huskies were within 75-72 with plenty of time left on the clock.
But that's when Franklin took matters into his own hands and, as he's done over and over all season and did time after time Tuesday night, he drove into the lane and curled a layup into the bucket for a 77-72 lead with 21 seconds to play. Odunsi missed a jumper on HBU's ensuing possession and freshman Jaren Lewis came down with the rebound and hit two free throws after he was fouled for the final 79-72 outcome.
"When we got the lead to 25 points, I thought that if we could put together one more run that we might be able to put them away," Golding said. "But then we got a little bit tight and they started hitting shots and the game turned. But we keep telling our guys that we gotta find a way to win, and (Tuesday) we did that. The flagrant foul on Tripp was huge, and then the 3-pointers from Parker allowed us to breathe a little bit again."
Franklin led four Wildcats in double figures with a team-high 21 points, while Wentz had 18 points (5 of 7 from 3-point range), Little had 11 and freshman Hayden Howell came off the bench to score a career-high 12 points.
The Wildcats will be back in action Saturday at 4 p.m. in Hammond, La., to take on Southeastern Louisiana before playing at Lamar next Monday night.
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