ABILENE, Texas - Seattle U men's basketball led nearly wire-to-wire Thursday night at Teague Center in Abilene, Texas, fending off multiple runs by the home team to earn a commanding 72-62 win over Abilene Christian and take over sole possession of first place in the Western Athletic Conference standings.
The Redhawks, now 14-4 overall, have won six straight and have opened WAC play 5-0 for the first time ever. Abilene Christian dropped to 11-7 overall and 2-5 in WAC play.
"Abilene Christian a great program, an unbelievable defensive team, extremely tough and well coached," said Interim Head Coach Chris Victor. "Until you play against it, it's hard to replicate in practice. You can talk all you want about it, but you have to go see it and you have to feel it. And once we did that and we settled down, we adjusted well and took care of the ball for the most part for the rest of the game."
Cameron Tyson led four Redhawks in double figures, finishing with 20 points, including a half-court heave to beat the halftime buzzer and send Seattle U into the locker room up 35-22.
Riley Grigsby added 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Darrion Trammell had just two field goals, but made up for it at the charity stripe, finishing 10-of-12 for 14 points to go along with six rebounds, five assists and four steals. Kyree Brown turned in his first double-digit scoring performance of the season, finishing with 12 points, including 10-of-13 from the free-throw line.
"Trammell and Brown are why we won the game," said Victor. "Two guys like that, that can take care of the basketball. We were just spacing the floor and allowing them to penetrate and make plays. Not only did they take care of the ball, they created for others, they guarded well. All of that was big time."
The Wildcats were paced by Reggie Miller's 12 points. Mahki Morris added 10 points while three other ACU players finished with nine.
Entering the night, Abilene Christian ranked atop the WAC in scoring offense at 77.8 ppg. But the Redhawks forced the offensive juggernaut into multiple cold stretches. The Wildcats shot just 29 percent from the field in the first half as Seattle U built an early lead.
Late in the game, six-minute stretch without a field goal turned a four-point game into a 16-point deficit for the Wildcats.
Free throws by Miller had the Wildcats closing in on the Redhawks, 47-44 with 9:22 to play. Grigsby would hit a layup on the ensuing possession and Emeka Udenyi collected a block and rebound on the defensive end, then went coast-to-coast for two to quickly make it an eight-point spread.
Trammell would score the next seven points for Seattle U, five from the free-throw line. Brown added a free throw and Tyson scored on a fast break to make it 61-45, Seattle U, with 3:16 remaining.
A flurry of Wildcat threes in the final minutes threatened to make things interesting, but for the second straight game, the Redhawks were nails from the charity stripe to put the game away.
"This team has a lot of trust and a lot of belief in each other," said Victor. "When you have a team that's this tight, all of our energy and focus is going in the right direction, it's easy to snap back from a couple of bad plays. These guys are showing how tough they are and they did it again tonight."
Seattle U will conclude its three-game road swing on Saturday, traveling to Stephenville, Texas, to face Tarleton State. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m. Central Time, 5 p.m. Pacific from Wisdom Gym. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and can be heard on the airwaves on KXSU 102.1 FM in Seattle and kxsu.org.
The Redhawks, now 14-4 overall, have won six straight and have opened WAC play 5-0 for the first time ever. Abilene Christian dropped to 11-7 overall and 2-5 in WAC play.
"Abilene Christian a great program, an unbelievable defensive team, extremely tough and well coached," said Interim Head Coach Chris Victor. "Until you play against it, it's hard to replicate in practice. You can talk all you want about it, but you have to go see it and you have to feel it. And once we did that and we settled down, we adjusted well and took care of the ball for the most part for the rest of the game."
Cameron Tyson led four Redhawks in double figures, finishing with 20 points, including a half-court heave to beat the halftime buzzer and send Seattle U into the locker room up 35-22.
Riley Grigsby added 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Darrion Trammell had just two field goals, but made up for it at the charity stripe, finishing 10-of-12 for 14 points to go along with six rebounds, five assists and four steals. Kyree Brown turned in his first double-digit scoring performance of the season, finishing with 12 points, including 10-of-13 from the free-throw line.
"Trammell and Brown are why we won the game," said Victor. "Two guys like that, that can take care of the basketball. We were just spacing the floor and allowing them to penetrate and make plays. Not only did they take care of the ball, they created for others, they guarded well. All of that was big time."
The Wildcats were paced by Reggie Miller's 12 points. Mahki Morris added 10 points while three other ACU players finished with nine.
Entering the night, Abilene Christian ranked atop the WAC in scoring offense at 77.8 ppg. But the Redhawks forced the offensive juggernaut into multiple cold stretches. The Wildcats shot just 29 percent from the field in the first half as Seattle U built an early lead.
Late in the game, six-minute stretch without a field goal turned a four-point game into a 16-point deficit for the Wildcats.
Free throws by Miller had the Wildcats closing in on the Redhawks, 47-44 with 9:22 to play. Grigsby would hit a layup on the ensuing possession and Emeka Udenyi collected a block and rebound on the defensive end, then went coast-to-coast for two to quickly make it an eight-point spread.
Trammell would score the next seven points for Seattle U, five from the free-throw line. Brown added a free throw and Tyson scored on a fast break to make it 61-45, Seattle U, with 3:16 remaining.
A flurry of Wildcat threes in the final minutes threatened to make things interesting, but for the second straight game, the Redhawks were nails from the charity stripe to put the game away.
"This team has a lot of trust and a lot of belief in each other," said Victor. "When you have a team that's this tight, all of our energy and focus is going in the right direction, it's easy to snap back from a couple of bad plays. These guys are showing how tough they are and they did it again tonight."
Seattle U will conclude its three-game road swing on Saturday, traveling to Stephenville, Texas, to face Tarleton State. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m. Central Time, 5 p.m. Pacific from Wisdom Gym. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and can be heard on the airwaves on KXSU 102.1 FM in Seattle and kxsu.org.
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