ABILENE -- ACU outscored Texas-Permian Basin 11-2 over the first six minutes of the second half Monday night to turn a two-point deficit into a seven-point lead and the Wildcats never looked back as they took a 66-58 win over the Falcons in non-conference men's college basketball action at Moody Coliseum.
The win pushes the Wildcats to 6-7 on the season, while the Falcons drop to 4-8 with the loss. ACU will return to action this weekend when it takes on Southeastern Oklahoma State (Thursday in Durant, Okla.) and East Central (Saturday in Ada, Okla.).
With the Falcons playing a slow-down offensive game in the first half, the Wildcats had trouble adjusting and shot just 41.7 percent from the field (10 of 24) in the opening 20 minutes and found themselves 25-23 at halftime.
However, the Wildcats opened the second half with a quick spurt that gave them a lead they would not relinquish.
Marcus Washington got the game tied with a layup just 48 seconds into the second half, and
Vladimir Gavranic gave the Wildcats the lead for good with a layup at the 18:26 mark.
Eddie Thompson hit a driving layup on a feed from Washington to make it 29-25 with 17:41 left, and then
Abby Kabba scored on an assist from
Eddie Thompson, forcing UTPB head coach Dwaine Osborn to call a timeout at the 16:58 mark.
After two free throws by UTPB's Charles Harper cut the lead to 31-27,
Preston Davis responded with a layup at the 15:50 mark to make it 33-27, and then Kabba capped the run with a free throw to make it 34-27 with 14 minutes to play.
After the Falcons cut the lead to six points on a jumper by Justin Bailey with 11:15 to play, the Wildcats ran off another 10-0 run over the next 2:02 to put the game on ice.
Giordan Cole hit a pair of free throws, and then Washington and Thompson drained back-to-back 3-pointers before Thompson capped the run with a layup on a feed from
Ben Warton.
Thompson led all scorers with 20 points on 8 of 16 shooting, while Washington had 13 points and seven rebounds and Kabba had 12 points and four rebounds.
