By Daniel Johnson, Sports Editor

The ACU men’s basketball team faced a must-win situation Tuesday night.

A loss against rival Angelo State would have dropped them to 0-3 in conference and dashed any reasonable hope of making the regional tournament.

“Coming in we knew we had to win,” said guard Cortnie Ross. “We didn’t want to dig ourselves a hole; We had to win.”

The Wildcats executed when it mattered and kept their postseason hopes alive by downing Angelo State 92-76.

“We really needed this one,” head coach Jason Copeland said.

The win is ACU’s ninth at home and extended the Wildcats’ record to 1-2 in conference and 10-8 overall. ACU is now tied with Angelo for fourth in the Lone Star Conference South division.

“We take pride in not losing here,” guard Norman Alexander said.

After going into the half with a 48-38 lead, the Wildcats’ outpaced the Angelo Rams and led throughout the second half by as much as 20 points.

Guard Philip Brooks posted a double-double with 25 points and 10 assists. A majority of Brooks’ 25 came from the free-throw line where he was 12-15. Brooks steals in the game.

Three other Wildcats posted double digits: Ross with 18, guard Tiago Souza with 17 and forward Igor Vrzina with 10.

“I think we just played good defense,” Alexander said.

That defense held the LSC’s second highest scorer, forward Marcus Hubbard to only eight points and tallied a season best 20 steals. The 6-foot-9 Hubbard, who averaged 22.4 points-per-game, failed to take advantage of the height advantage over the Wildcats.

“We responded well to adversity,” Copeland said. “Everybody stepped up it was a really big thing.”

Angelo State is now 6-11 overall and 1-2 in conference.

In order to make the postseason ACU must continue to win to cancel out their 0-2 start.

“We need to try and put something together from here,” Ross said. “We got to take it one game at a time.”

The Wildcats’ next game will be at home against Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday at 4 p.m.