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The Abilene Christian men’s basketball team can be pretty tough to beat when playing that brand of basketball. rewarded.
Tevin Jones scored 22 of his game-high 28 points in the second half as the Thunderbirds defeated the ACU 74-72 in the Western Athletic Conference Saturday at the Moody Coliseum.
The Wildcats outscored Southern Utah 55-52 from the field, but the T-Burs hit the free-throw line 35 times and struck out 22. ACU was 19-17 from the free-throw line.
Allowing Southern Utah to win at the free-throw line in a game where the ACU forced 21 turnovers and outscored the T-Birds 20-12 on miscues was bittersweet medicine for Wildcats coach Brett Tanner. was.
“I don’t think we deserve to win,” Tanner said. “It doesn’t mean we didn’t play hard, but we didn’t play the game we wanted to play. We let them take 50 in the second half. That’s not us.”
Cameron Steele scored 16 points off the bench to lead ACU (9-7 overall, 1-2 in WAC). Ali Abdu Dibba followed with 12 and Tobias Cameron with 11 in a reserve role. The other three wildcats he had were ten.
Maizen Fausett trailed Jones with 11 points, including 2 of 4 free throws in the final 10 seconds, to win the game. Drake Allen also entered the game with the T-Birds (11-6, 3-1) where he scored 10 points and averaged 88 points per game.
half story
The first half was typical ACU basketball.
It was beautiful for Tanner.
“In the first half, we played what we wanted,” Tanner said. I started fouling, and the bottom line is that the game was won at the free-throw line.”
Tanner clarified that he did not blame the officials.
“The match was fine,” Tanner said. “We allowed the attack and we were the attackers in the first half. If you look at the score in the first half, it’s 30-25. That’s our game. That’s not what they want to do.”
Tanner said he had discussions with his team at halftime about maintaining the pace in the first half.
“It didn’t work,” Tanner said. “We won his first four minutes[second half]out of the gate, but then we were in smoke.”
Jones’ jumper tied the game at 37 and with 14:11 left in the game, Martell Williams won a 6-0 run on a layup to give the T Barrs a 39-37 lead with 13:45 remaining. rice field.
This was Southern Utah’s first lead since the first five minutes of the game.
An angry Tanner called for a timeout and yelled at his players to “get up” during the break.
He wasn’t happy with their shot selection during the T-Birds’ run.He finally got it when Cameron made a bad pass for a turnover.Williams’ go-ahead basket connected to.
“That’s not what we do. It was a key moment in the game,” Tanner said. I finally got it.”
Tanner said it was not personal to Cameron or his team. It’s just his style. He coached them diligently and said they got it.
“They know I love them,” Tanner said. “It comes from a good place. I think sometimes they need it.”
counterattack
The ACU woke up with eight draws and four lead changes after Williams’ basket.
Southern Utah appeared to put the game away to Jones’ tray with a 70-65 lead with 56 seconds remaining, but the ACU didn’t go away.
Dibba pulled the Wildcats within two on an old-fashioned 3 play with 10 seconds remaining.
The T-Birds didn’t help their cause, missing 2 of 4 free throws while ACU’s Damien Daniels hit 2 free throws.
The Wildcats had the final shot to tie or win with five seconds remaining, but Daniels turned the ball over before the team could take the shot.
“We had a good opportunity at the end,” Tanner said. “We did exactly what we were going to do. We just bounced the ball badly.”
Tanner said he’s been talking to his team all week that one play doesn’t decide a game, and that was also on Saturday.
He said there are many things the Wildcats could have done better, including shot selection. ACU scored 25. He scored 3 points.
“That’s a credit to Southern Utah,” Tanner said. “They were sitting in the paint trying to knock them down from the three-point line and we didn’t do it.”
Tanner said he should have changed tactics when it became clear his team was struggling in the 3.
“When that doesn’t happen, you have to stop it and drive,” Tanner said. “We must attack.”
Daniels hits another career mark
Senior guard Daniels had four assists on Saturday and his 400th career assist.he picked up 200th He scored a career steal a week ago in a 69-63 home victory over Tarleton.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been tougher on a player throughout my career than Damian Daniels, but Damian comes back every day,” Tanner said. make it better.
“If I can coach him the way I do, he is just a special, special kid. have won.”
That made Saturday’s ending more difficult. It was Daniels’ only turnover of the game.
“Damien is a special player. He’s trying to kill himself right now. I told him not to,” Tanner said.
next
ACU kicks off its three-game trip Wednesday in the Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburgh. The Wildcats will also play in Tarleton (Saturday) and the Utah Valley (January 18) before returning to Texas on January 21 to play in Arlington.
Last year, Aerion Simmons’ 3-point goal with 9 seconds left gave ACU an 87-85 victory in Edinburgh. The Wildcats trailed him by 12 with two minutes remaining.
Western Athletic Conference
Southern Utah, 74, Abilene Christian, 72
Southern Utah … 25 … 49 − 74
Abilene Christian … 30 … 42 – 72
Southern Utah (11-6, 3-1) − Fawcett 4-4 3-6 11, Spargin 1-4 4-6 6, D. Allen 3-5 4-4 10, Butler 2-5 2-4 6, Jones 9-12 6-7 28, Williams 3 – 7 3-4 9, Healy 1-3 0-0 2, Farah 1-2 0-4 2, Barnes 0-1 0-0 0, Lemeti 0-0 0-0 0. total 24-43 22-35 74.
Abilene Christian (9-7, 1-2) − Pleasant 3-5 3-4 10, I. Allen 2-8 4-4 10, Daniels 4-12 2-2 10, Dibba 5-10 2-2 12, Madden 0-5 0-0 0, Cameron 4- 7 3-3 11, Steele 6-8 2-2 16, Simmons 1-7 1-2 3, Jackson 0-1 0-0 0. total 25-63 17-19 72.
3 point goal − S. Utah 4-11 (Jones 4-6, D. Allen 0-1, Barnes 0-1, Butler 0-1, Healy 0-2), Abilene Christian 5-25 (Steel 2-4, I. Allen 2) ) -5, Pleasant 1-2, Jackson 0-1, Cameron 0-2, Daniels 0-2, Madden 0-4, Simmons 0-5). foul out − Spurgin, I. Allen. rebound- S. Utah 38 (D. Allen 11), Abilene Christian 23 (I. Allen 5). assist- S. Utah 5 (D. Allen 2), Abilene Christian 12 (Daniels 4). Total fouls – S. Utah 26, Abilene Christian 26. technical foul − S. Utah: None. ACU: Steel.
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