ABILENE – The Abilene Christian Wildcats made 11 of their 15 3-point attempts (73.3 percent) and took an 82-63 Lone Star Conference win over Angelo State on Saturday at Moody Coliseum.

The Rams (5-13, 2-8 LSC) dropped their third consecutive game and second in a row to ACU (10-8, 4-6 LSC) after also falling in a Wednesday game in San Angelo. The Wildcats only trailed once in the game (down 3-2 with 19:15 remaining in the first half) and took a 39-23 lead into halftime after making eight 3-pointers in the first half to stake their control of the game.

“You can't dig yourself that kind of hole on the road and expect to win,” ASU head coach Fred Rike said.

Antonio Dye led the Rams in scoring for the fifth time this season with 20 points and also had seven rebounds and three 3-pointers.

“He is playing hard with a lot of energy,” Rike said. “He's been out some with an injury but he's scoring and was our leading rebounder tonight. He was our positive tonight.”

Jovan Austin added 17 points and two assists, while Bryan Hammond, Ryan Marsh and Reggie Sutton each added five points. The Rams shot 35.3 percent from the field, including going 7 of 17 from beyond the arc. ASU shot 20 of 24 from the free-throw line and limited its turnovers to five, but were outrebounded 39-21 and limited to seven second-chance points.

Eric Lawton led the Wildcats with 20 points and three assists. Lawton led the Wildcats with 16 points at halftime after going 4 of 4 on 3-pointers, while ACU went 8 of 10 as a team from beyond the arc.

“We went under screens on Lawton and were too soft on him,” Rike said. “You can't do that. He's a great shooter.”
Parker Wentz added 14 points for the Wildcats, including hitting four 3-pointers. Elliot Lloyd and Cornelius Cammock each added 13 points, while Steven Werner had 12 points.

Abilene Christian, which scored 30 points in the paint and 17 second-chance points in the game, went on a 9-3 run to push to 29-15 before a Sutton 3-pointer and a jumper to close the margin to nine with a little over nine minutes to play in the first half. A Justin Walling 3-pointer answered an ACU 3-pointer before the Wildcats went on a 7-0 run to stake out a 39-23 lead with five minutes left in the first half.

The Rams return to action at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday against Eastern New Mexico at Stephens Arena in the Junell Center. ASU dropped a 76-67 contest in Portales, N.M. on Nov. 28 in the first meeting between the two teams.  

“We have to take care of our home floor,” Rike said. “We have to win home games and have to beat Eastern on Wednesday.”