Joe Golding

DURHAM, N.H. – The growth of a program is usually measured in baby steps. The ACU Wildcats, however, took a huge leap forward Thursday night with a 65-57 win over New Hampshire in Lundholm Gymnasium.The Wildcats are now 2-0 on the season for the second straight season and third time in head coach's six seasons, while New Hampshire falls to 2-1. ACU never trailed in the contest against New Hampshire, which returns the bulk of a team that won 20 games last season and was picked to finish second this season in the America East Conference.UNH – also nicknamed the Wildcats – entered the game off a 57-52 win at Temple on Tuesday, but were never really in Thursday night's game. ACU jumped on New Hampshire early, jumping out to a 15-5 lead in the first nine minutes of the game, despite starting guardand starting centerbeing saddled with two fouls apiece and spending significant minutes on the bench.The Wildcats' lead grew to as many as 21 points late in the first half (33-12) as they compensated for the loss of two starters with eight first-half points fromand solid contributions off the bench from(seven points, four rebounds),(three points and solid defense), and freshman point guard, who scored three points and had one rebound in 10 turnover-free minutes in place of Franklin.ACU's lead grew to as many as 26 points in the second half (53-27) before the Wildcats went absolutely cold from the field and the free throw line, allowing New Hampshire to creep back into the contest. After the Wildcats pushed their lead to a game-high, they went 1 for 10 from the field and 1 for 8 from the free throw line, allowing UNH to get back in the game with a 22-3 run that cut the ACU lead to 56-49 with 2:24 to play.But the Wildcats were clutch down the stretch, hitting their only field goal attempt and hitting 6 of 8 free throws in the final 76 seconds to secure the victory.Crnic finished with a team-high 19 points, while Lewis had 11 and Farquhar 10. Redshirt freshman centerhad eight points, seven rebounds, two blocks and one steal in 23 minutes off the bench.With ACU's lead down from 26 points to just seven (56-49) with less than two minutes to play, Franklin had a quick 30-second burst that effectively sealed ACU's win. UNH point guard Jaleen Smith missed a 3-pointer with 1:4 to play and Franklin skied above the other nine players on the floor to grab the rebound to limit UNH to just one shot. He was fouled a few seconds later, but missed the free throw to keep the ACU lead at seven points. But on the ensuing UNH offensive possession, Franklin came up with a steal and a layup with 1:16 to play, pushing the ACU lead back to 58-49, basically sealing the victory.• New Hampshire buried 10 of 30 3-point attempts Tuesday night in its win over Temple, but hit just 5 of 24 against ACU, including a meaningless one at the game-ending buzzer by Tanner Leissner.• The Wildcats went to the free throw line 29 times in the game, compared to just 17 times for the home team. ACU was 16 for 29 from the line (55.2 percent), compared to 10 of 17 from the line (58.8 percent).• ACU committed just 14 turnovers, collected two blocked shots and eight steals, while New Hampshire had 18 turnovers and three steals and didn't block a shot.• The win for the Wildcats snapped a 20-game non-conference road losing streak (true road games), dating all the way back to Nov. 18, 2011, when the Wildcats beat Texas-Permian Basin in Odessa in Golding's first season as the ACU head coach. That was two years before ACU would make the move to NCAA Division I affiliation.• The win represents the first true non-conference road win for ACU since it began the four-year transition from NCAA Division II affiliation to NCAA Division I status.The Wildcats will be back in action Tuesday (Nov. 22) when they host Charleston Southern (S.C.) at 7 p.m. in Moody Coliseum. The game will mark the Buccaneers' first trip to ACU, and is the first of two games between the two teams in 2016-17. ACU will be in Charleston, S.C., on Saturday, Dec. 3, to take on the Buccaneers. That game can be heard locally on 98.1 FM 98theticket.com on the internet) and can be seen on acusports.com."We played well, but we've got a lot of things to clean up and work on before we play Charleston Southern on Tuesday. We're young and still learning to win games on the road like this. I think they looked up with eight or nine minutes left and saw how big our lead was and they got tight. But we made the plays we needed to make down the stretch and we were able to get a win. That's a big win for our program as we continue to build this thing into one that can compete for championships." ­–