Box Score SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. --- As it has most of the season, the Wayland Baptist men's basketball team held an opponent to at least ten points below its normal offensive output. Unfortunately for the Pioneers, their offense was once again unable to generate enough points for a win as John Brown University handed WBU its fourth straight loss, 61-55.
The Pioneers, who made only four field goals in the first half, trailed 28-19 at the intermission. Theyfinally found the touch after the break, scoring the first seven points of the second period. A 12-2 run eventually led to a brief 31-30 advantage, the only time in the game that Wayland had the lead.
The Golden Eaglesrespondedwiththe next ten points to go back on top by nine, 40-31. Freshman point guard Curtis Stuckey's three-pointer four minutes later closed the gap to 46-41.
Rodrigo Silva finally drew the Pioneers to within three, 56-53,with 1:27 on the clock. Bobby Watkins made it a two-point game with 20 seconds left, but JBU hit its final four shots from the line to improve to 14-3 overall and 6-3 in league action.
Neither team was very productive offensively, each shooting 38 percent from the field. The Pioneers looked a little better from behind the three-point line. Wayland went 4-of-15 from the arch, while JBU was just 2-of-19. The hosts won the rebounding battle by a wide margin, 43-28, but were just two points better in the paint.
The game was ultimately decided at the free throw line. John Brown made good on 72 percent (21-of-29) of their attempts from the charity stripe, hitting 15-of-18 in the second half. The Pioneers, who started the game with misses on their first seven free throw attempts, finished the opening periodsinking ten straight,and eventually wound up15-of-25 from the line.
Watkins and George Williams led the Pioneers in scoring with 15 and 14 points respectively. Johnny Terra had a game-high 11 rebounds for Wayland, which dropped to 6-10 on the season and 1-8 in conference play.
Sam Bartlett had 17 points for the Golden Eagles.
The Pioneers travel to Claremore, Okla. on Saturday for a 3 pm match-up with Rogers State University. The Hillcats defeated Lubbock Christian 73-72 on Thursday.
