San Antonio, Texas – UIW men's basketball went 3-0 on their home stand following a come from behind 82-79 win over Abilene Christian before nearly 1,200 fans at the McDermott Convocation Center Thursday night.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The teams exchanged baskets in the early going until UIW scored seven unanswered to turn a 12-all tie to a 19-12 advantage, highlighted by a three-pointer by
Sam Burmeister. A trey by Jalone Friday cut the Cardinal lead to four, but
Simi Socks answered with a long ball of his own, as UIW eventually led by as many as eight following a three-pointer by
Jorden Kite gave the Cardinals a 25-17 lead with 12:22 left in the opening half.
A three-point play by Jaren Lewis sparked an 8-0 ACU run to tie the game at 25-all, but the Wildcats never led until a Hayden Howell dunk put the visitors up 29-27 with 8:23 left in the half.
UIW retook the lead following back-to-back Socks jumpers, but the Wildcats outscored the Cardinals 17-11 to take a 46-42 lead at the break. ACU outscored UIW 24-6 in the paint in the first half.
UIW scored four points in the first 50 seconds to tie the game at 46-all. ACU led by as many as seven before UIW used an 8-1 run to tie the game at 57-57 following a three-pointer by Kite. ACU again took control and led by six, 65-56, forcing the Cardinals to call a timeout with just under 11 minutes left in regulation.
The Cardinals came out of the breather and outscored the Wildcats, 15-2, in a span of seven minutes to take a 74-67 lead with 4:00 remaining in regulation. A massive dunk by
Devin Wyatt started the rally, while his layup ending the run forced ACU to call a timeout.
ACU battled back and cut the deficit to one following a Lewis steal and a Payten Ricks' jumper with 55 seconds to go, but
Jalin Hart made a layup and the Cardinals went 4-for-4 at the line to seal the win.
LEADERS
Socks led UIW (9-10 overall, 4-4 SLC) with 23 points, the most he has scored in a conference game this season. He started the game 7-for-7 from the floor before ending 8-for-11, 3-for-6 from beyond the arc, and making all four free throw attempts. He grabbed a career-best nine rebounds and added a pair of assists. Hart finished with 20 points on 6-of-15 shooting and 7-for-8 from beyond the arc. The UIW bench outscored ACU's 18-11. As a team, the Cardinals shot 52 percent from the floor, 36 percent from behind the arc, and a season-high 84 percent from the charity stripe.
Friday scored a game-high 26 points to pace ACU (8-11 overall, 2-6 SLC), while Lewis and Franklin added 17 and 13 points, respectively. As a team, the Wildcats shot 53 percent from the floor.
QUOTES
Assistant Coach John Smith
"The biggest stat I liked was 21-for-25 from the free throw line. A few things we need to clean up. A few small details are what will get us over the hump. But the one thing I really liked about this game was the ball movement. The guys are committed to finding each other. The ball movement was beautiful tonight."
Simi Socks on the win
"It was just a great scouting job by the coaches. We just execute and try to focus to win games. Friday had 18 points in the first half, but we really stopped that in the second half."
Socks on the fan support
"We really love our fans. They come out and show us a lot of love. We really appreciate them."
Shawn Johnson on the team's effort
"It's all about the effort; the way you start and the way you finish. Even if you're not scoring, it's defensive effort and talking on the bench."
Johnson on Jalin Hart
"Jalin doesn't care how big you are, he will come at you. He tries to finish on you. We trust him with it. We tell him to keep driving it and if he trusts in it, we believe in it."
UP NEXT
UIW makes the long bus ride up to Conway, Arkansas, to take on Central Arkansas on Saturday at 4 p.m.
STAY TUNED
The Cardinals return home to host McNeese on Thursday, Feb. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in a "Black Out" game.
For the most up-to-date information on UIW Athletics visit uiwcardinals.com. Be sure to follow UIW Athletics on Twitter @UIWAthletics and like UIW Athletics on Facebook at UIW Athletics.
