STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Tarleton State Men's Basketball fell behind from the start and was unable to complete the late comeback and fell in the first game of the I-20 series to Abilene Christian, 84-80 on Thursday night in the EECU Center.

The Texans (11-6 overall, 2-2 WAC) dropped the first of three to I-20 rival, ACU (10-6, 2-1). Thursday night was the first of three matchups this season and the first of two in the EECU Center. ACU jumped ahead on a 9-0 run to start the game and never trailed throughout the entire contest. Tarleton State had the ball with the opportunity to tie the game trailing by two with 38 seconds left, but was unable to capitalize.

For the third consecutive WAC game, Dior Johnson scored 30+ points. Johnson ended the night with 33 and shot a perfect 15-for-15 from the charity stripe. He made nine of his 19 shots from the floor and missed his only three pointer he took. The junior also added three boards and a pair of steals.

Three other Texans scored in double figures as well. Off the bench, Kade Douglas accounted for 11 and Cam McDowell contributed 10 as well. Chris Mpaka reached double digits with 11 and added a team-best seven boards and two blocks. Douglas tallied a team-high three steals.

The Wildcats started out the game with a 9-0 run holding the Texans to a scoring drought for the first 4:45 of game time. Chris Mpaka broke the Texan drought with a bucket in the paint to get the Texans on the board. Johnson rattled off seven-straight Texan points after the Mpaka bucket to bring the Texans within five, 14-9 with 12:56 to go.

McDowell swatted a shot and turned it into two on the other end after a Wildcat bucket to keep the deficit at five a few possessions later. Trailing by eight, the Texans made five consecutive free throws to narrow the deficit to three at the midpoint of the half. Just a few minutes later, the ACU lead crept up to nine, but after a Wildcat technical foul, the Johnson made the pair of freebies and McDowell knocked down a layup to bring the Texans within five.

In the final minutes of the half, the Wildcats lead never reached more than 10, but the Texans were unable to recover after the early fast start from ACU. Douglas knocked down his first triple of the night in the final minute, but ACU responded with a mid-range jumper from the free throw line to send the Wildcats into the break ahead, 46-38. It marked just the third time all season that the Texans were behind at the end of the half. Johnson led all scorers with 13 in the first 20 minutes coming off the bench.

Coming out of half, Mpaka put the Texans on the board first to cut their deficit to six. But the Wildcats responded with an 8-0 run to break out to their largest lead of the night, 14, 54-40. The Texans brought the game back within single digits with six-straight points, but a Wildcat triple put the ACU lead back to 11. Trailing by 13, back-to-back buckets from Douglas and a pair of free throws from Johnson brought the game back within seven.

The Texan deficit remained single digits over the next several minutes. After a bucket from Douglas and Johnson for a mini 4-0 run, Tarleton State found themselves within five, 63-58 with just over ten minutes to play. The Wildcat lead hovered between five and eight over the next few minutes. Trailing by eight, 74-66, with just under seven minutes to go, the Texans ran off a 6-0 run to bring the Texans within a pair, 74-72 with four minutes to play.

On the very next possession, the Wildcats brought the lead back up to four. Johnson dropped the deficit back to two with a driving layup in the paint with less than three minutes to go. The Wildcats brought the game back to four on the next possession. After another Johnson layup in part of his six consecutive points, he brought the game within two with 2:22 to go. The Texans forced an ACU stop and had the ball with the chance to tie the game.

McDowell brought the ball down the floor but has his shot blocked and ACU scored to put the game back to four with less than a minute to go. Johnson made a pair of free throws to bring the game back to two. On the ensuing inbound, Johnson stole the pass and the Texans had the ball with 36 ticks to go. He drove in traffic and was unable to convert and the ball went back to the Wildcats. After a Texan foul, ACU missed one of their two shots at the line to give the Texans the ball back. Johnson missed a three pointer for the tie and the Wildcats iced the game with free throws to secure the 84-780 victory.

Tarleton State shot 26-for-56 from the floor, a 46.4 percent rate. The Texans shot 27-for-29 from the floor, 93.1 percent. It marks the seventh time this season with at least 20 made free throws and the third consecutive game with at least 25. The Purple and White gathered 12 steals, their ninth consecutive game with at least 10. The Texans won the turnover battle forcing 18 while committing 14. The Wildcats won the battle of the glass, 30-26.

Tarleton State will have their first of day of WAC play without a game on Saturday. The Texans will then hit the road to open a three-game road trip opening with Southern Utah on Thursday of next week at 7:30 p.m. CT followed by Utah Tech on Saturday night at 8 p.m. CT.