Box Score Lubbock Christian's Douglas Williams hit a long three-pointer with just over 11 seconds left to tie the game and then put the nail in the coffin when he stole an inbounds pass and sank the first of two free throws with just over one second remaining to give the Chaparrals a narrow 70-69 win over the Pioneers on Monday evening in Hutcherson Center.
The Wayland men led their archrivals from down south for much of the first half, jumping out to an early 13-3 lead. Jason Griffin's two pointer with just under 13 minutes to go in the opening period put the Pioneers up by 12, but LCU slowly worked their way back into the game.
Williams hit a jumper with 3:22 to go in the half to even it all up at 30, and the Chaps took their first lead on a trey by Williams just 20 seconds later. LCU went into the lockerroom at the intermission with a 35-32 advantage.
Rodrigo Silva's bucket in the paint made it 36-35 early in the second half, but the Chaps regained the lead on their next possession. LCU eventually made it a seven point game at the midway point, but the Pioneers scored 13 unanswered points, including back-to-back three-pointers by Rishi Kakad, over the next five minutes to go up 63-57.
Another trey by Kakad put WBU back up by six with 2:25 on the clock. LCU scored the next five points on six free throw attempts before Tommie Sanders smoothly put in two of his own to make it 69-66 on the next trip up the court.
A pair of turnovers, one from each team, over the next couple of possessions set up Williams' heroics.
Kakad, who hit five-of-ten shots from behind the arch, led all scorers with 21 points. Griffin put in 17 and Silva added 12 to go along with his game-high eight boards.
LCU made 23 trips to the charity stripe, compared to just ten for the Pioneers. The Chaps ended up hitting 15 of those attempts, while WBU was good on just half of its chances.
The Wayland men hit the road this weekend for an exhibition game in Cedar City, Utah against Southern Utah University. Tip-off of that game is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. central standard time.
