The men’s basketball team traveled to Dallas Tuesday night to take on the DBU Patriots in non-conference match-up. Unfortunately, ACU suffered their second loss of the season 80-72.
For the first time this year, the Wildcats found themselves trailing at halftime, and they were unable to dig themselves out of the first half hole that felt foreign to them.
“We were not as aggressive as we needed to be.” Senior Ben Warton said. “We just did not come out in the second half with the energy and pop, so they had a lead that was too big for us to overcome.”
The defense looked shaky at times against Dallas Baptist, and the Wildcats had trouble fighting off the Patriot’ onslaught around the rim. Patriot was able to shoot 24 free throws and put the game on ice from the charity stripe.
The Patriots torched the nets, shooting 50% from the floor and over 45% from behind the arc.
The Wildcats were able to continue their trend of balanced scoring, as the ACU offense once again put four men in double figures with Armani Zach Williams, Eric Kibi and Marc Williams having a big night from the floor.
“We put the defense in a position where nobody can be double teamed and everyone will get to see a one on one match-up.” Zach Williams said. “It puts pressure on the other teams.”
The Wildcats will look to rebound from their tough game against DBU on Saturday with a home game against the Southwestern Adventist University Knights.
ACU is undefeated at home under first-year coach Joe Golding, and they are looking to keep it that way when going against the Knights on Wildcat turf.
“I’ve been really impressed with the support and how rowdy everyone has been.” Warton said. “When the fans are going crazy, it gets us fired up and can change the outcome of the game. We love the enthusiasm and the home court advantage.”
The Wildcats are quickly becoming a dangerous team. To come home and win after a tough road loss would be a good opportunity to prepare themselves for the grueling Lone Star Conference schedule, which is packed with tough games.
Winning home games is a must for ACU if they are going to make some noise in the LSC this year, which has been their goal from the beginning of the year.
“Our goal this year is to win the conference.” Williams said. “In the postseason we want to win the conference tournament as well.”
