The ACU men’s basketball team dominated the Southwest Adventist Knights in Moody Coliseum Saturday night, winning 86-47 in a rout.
Led by point guard Marc Little’s full court pressure, the Wildcats played smothering defense all night long. Southwest Adventist struggled to get anything going offensively.
“I think on the ball Marc is one of the best on the ball defenders in the Lone Star Conference,” head coach Joe Golding said. “He and Antonio Bell initiate everything for us defensively when they are able to get good on the ball pressure.”
The Wildcat defense swarmed to the ball for forty minutes, creating 26 turnovers and completely overwhelming the Knights’ players.
“We came out crisp,” senior forward Ben Warton said. “Coach [Golding] always talks about coming out with a lot of energy, and we were able to do that defensively. We were able to get some steals and get us out into the open court and get us some easy looks and get our offense going.”
The Wildcat offense also seemed unstoppable on Saturday, scoring over 80 points for the third time in four home games this season.
“The most impressive thing we did offensively to me was to have 22 assists,” Golding said. “Tonight was the first time since opening night we really did a great job of sharing the basketball. If we stick to that, we are going to have a chance to have some big success this season. It’s all about putting players in the best position to score, and we did that well Saturday.”
All of those assists led to ACU putting six players in double figures, including a double-double by junior forward Dosh Simms.
The Wildcat shot 60 percent from the field, hit ten three-pointers, and had five and ones.
Abilene Christian also scored a whopping 44 points in the paint and held a forty point lead for several minutes in the second half. For most of the game, the Wildcats could not get much better.
The Wildcats improved to 4-0 at home and 5-2 overall. ACU now has a full week off before they open up Lone Star Conference play against Cameron University as a part of the Christmas Slam on December 10th.
“You have to take care of your home floor,” Golding said. “This next week is huge for us, starting LSC play with two home games Saturday and then Tuesday. We will be ready to start off on the right foot in conference play.”
The Wildcats will look to continue their home court dominance against the Cameron University Aggies next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Moody Coliseum.
