ACU (8-11, 3-5) grabbed a much needed win Thursday night against Utah Tech (7-12, 3-5), blowing out the Bisons by a final score of 82-60.
Coming into Thursday night, the Wildcats were looking to build off of a crucial win, after taking down UT Arlington on Saturday, which snapped a four-game losing streak for the Wildcats. The Bisons however, were looking to turn things around following back-to-back losses last week.
Only a few hours before tip off, with an original scheduled time of 7 p.m. in Moody Coliseum, it was announced that the game would be moved to McMurry University’s Kimbrell Arena, with a new tip off time of 7:30 p.m, after a localized power outage in Moody Coliseum.
To start the game, the Bisons came out and took an early lead that they held for nearly seven minutes. However, senior forward Airion Simmons would hit a pair of free-throws to tie the game at 12 which would then lead to a layup from sophomore guard JV Seat to give the Wildcats their first lead of the game.
After holding the lead for nearly three minutes, the Bisons would hit a three-pointer to tie up the game and retake the lead just over a minute later. Down by four at 25-21, Simmons would knock down two free-throws and then a layup to even things up at 25.
Senior guard Hunter Jack Madden would hit a jumper on the next offensive possession to give the lead back to the Wildcats and Simmons would follow it up with another pair of made free-throws.
In the last 8:14 of the first half, the Wildcats defense would step up in a big way, holding the Bisons to only seven points, on only one made field goal. The Wildcats would take a 39-32 lead into the second half.
Despite only making one three in the first half, the Wildcats were able to add on 12 extra points from the free-throw line, shooting over 85%.
Both teams entered the second half exchanging some baskets and with ACU up by five at 45-40, four minutes into the half, the Wildcats began to pull away.
ACU would go on an impressive 20-0 run over the next eight minutes which included three made three-pointers and buckets from seven different scorers.
Despite going ice cold from the field for a majority of the half, Utah Tech was able to add 20 more points in the last eight minutes of play, with 10 of them coming in the final 1:29 of action.
Despite the late-game efforts, the Wildcats second half surge was able to give them an impressive 82-60 win, earning the team their third conference win of the season.
Simmons led the way for the Wildcats with 17 points to go along with seven rebounds, followed by 14 from junior guard Ali Abdou Dibba and 12 from Madden.
Sophomore forward Leonardo Bettiol had a very impressive night, earning himself a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds in only 22 minutes of action.
The Wildcats earned 31 points off of forced turnovers to go along with 18 fast break points.
ACU will look to keep the winning streak going when they host Southern Utah at 3 p.m. on Saturday in Moody Coliseum with the game streaming live on ESPN+.
Quotes will be added following head coach Brette Tanner’s next press conference.
