Box Score Claremore, Okla.---The Wayland Pioneers picked up their first conference road win of the season in a 73-66 victory over Rogers State University on Thursday evening at the Claremore Expo Center.
The win moves the Pioneers (10-14, 6-13) two games in back of Lubbock Christian with three games remaining for the eighth spot in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings. Only the top eight teams in the SAC are eligible for the conference's post-season tournament in two weeks.
Jason Griffin tied a season-high with 24 points in the game. The senior from Friendswood, Tex. hit 9-of-12 from the field, including 6-of-8 three-pointers, in 36 minutes of playing time. Griffin had 11 points in the first half, which saw six ties and 11 lead changes. The WBU men went into the intermission with a 37-34 advantage after shooting 54 percent from the field in the openiing 20 minutes.
The Hillcats (17-10, 10-9) took a brief one point lead (38-37) after scoring the first four points of the second period, but Griffin hit a basket to put his team back on top. The lead seesawed back and forth between the two teams over the next eight minutes until Johnny Terra hit his only trey of the game followed by a bucket by Griffin that gave the Pioneers the lead for good at 52-49 with 9:40 remaining.
WBU gained an eight point advantage five minutes later when Griffin dropped long distance bombs on consecutive possessions, but RSU rallied to make it a one-point game with 19 seconds left on the clock.
Terra put the game away with four straight free throws, and Sanders got the final basket of the contest with a lay-up off a steal as time expired.
Griffin was joined in double figures by Bobby Watkins with 15 points, Terra with 11, and Rodrigo Silva with 10. Sanders had a game-high five assists and four steals. The Pioneers ended up shooting 52 percent from the field and hit 9-of-18 from beyond the arch.
The Wayland defense held the Hillcats, who entered the game with the SAC's second-best offense producing just over 80 points a game, to 14 points below their season average. The Hillcats hit 50 percent from the field, but converted only 9-of-19 (47.4%) free throw attempts.
WBU will attempt to make it two straight on the road with a Saturday afternoon battle against John Brown University (19-8, 11-8), which defeated Lubbock Christian 77-51 on Thursday night.
