The men’s basketball team hosted Schreiner for ACU’s annual Christmas Slam and won in a convincing fashion 93-53 to improve to 9-1.
Redshirt junior center Jalone Friday converted on six of 10 shots from the field, including two three-pointers, and seven of eight free throws to lead the Wildcats with 21 points. Senior forward Hayden Farquhar came off the bench and posted 15 points in the game.
ACU trailed only once at the beginning of the game when Schreiner scored the first two points of the game. The Wildcats jumped out in front two minutes into the game and never looked back.
Farquhar converted an and-one play with 30 seconds left in the first half to give ACU a 14 lead at halftime. The team kept extending its lead in the second half jumping ahead by 30 points at the 7:54 mark.
The men stayed up by more than 30 points for the rest of the game and sophomore center Kolton Kohl made a jumper with 42 seconds left that gave his team the win by 40 points.
Head Coach Joe Golding said he was happy to get reserve players some more time on the court this game.
“We got to play a lot of our guys that haven’t had the chance to play a bunch of minutes,” Golding said. “I think that just continues to help your depth as you continue to move down the year.”
The Wildcats shot well from the field converting on 32 shots out of 55, giving them a 58.2 percentage. The also hit 11 of 21 three-point attempts (52.4 percent).
Moving forward, ACU will have a week to prepare for its matchup against No. 13 Texas Tech in Lubbock Saturday.
The Red Raiders will face Southland competitor Northwestern State Wednesday before preparing for the Wildcats.
Sophomore guard Jarrett Culver is the key player for Texas Tech as he leads his squad in scoring with 18.3 points per game. He also leads the team with 44 rebounds and 36 assists.
Texas Tech is one of the few remaining undefeated teams in the country with an 8-0 record coming off a 65-47 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
In today’s win over Schreiner, redshirt junior B.J. Maxwell sat out once again with a hamstring injury. Golding said he should be able to play by Saturday for Texas Tech.
“He should be ready to go at Tech,” Golding said. “You never know, it’s a hamstring type deal, so you want to be careful with those things because if you rush him back it hampers him all year.”
Tip-off against Texas Tech will be at 6 p.m. in the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum. Coverage will also air on 98.1 FM.
