Box Score CLAREMORE, Okla. --- The Wayland Baptist Pioneers were victimized by two huge runs, one early and one late, in an 84-64 Sooner Athletic Conference loss to #11 Rogers State on Thursday night inside the Claremore Expo.
RSU outscored WBU 51-4 during the two stretches. The first began with the score tied at four and the undefeated Hillcats exploded for 23 straight points. The Pioneers didn't give up or give in, and slowly worked their way back into the game closing the gap to 14 at the intermission.
The WBU men continued to whittle away at the lead in the second period. After a three-pointer by RSU's Donald Williams made the score 49-32 with 16:46 remaining in the game, the Pioneers outscored their opponent 19-5 over the next five minutes to get to within three at 54-51. Senior Isaiah Jackson had seven of his 13 points during that stretch.
"I was proud of the comeback that we made to get back into the game," said Coach Matt Garnett. "We just dug too deep of a hole early because we didn't work very hard without a ball in our hands on the offensive end. The fact that we ended up with just five assists for the night is a direct result of that."
All the hard work getting back into the contest seemed to drain Garnett's team, and the extremely athletic Hillcats took advantage, scoring the next 14 points and 28 of the next 29 to regain control.
"Rogers State is a very good team that is very well coached. I have to do a better job of getting our guys ready to play."
TJ Jacobs, who did much of the heavy lifting in the latter stages of the first half for WBU, finished with a team-high 17 points. The junior guard shot 7-of-14 from the field and had one three-pointer. Senior forward Johnny Terra hit two treys, both in the first half, and had a team-best seven rebounds.
The Pioneers actually won the battle of the boards, 33-31, and both teams scored 30 points in the paint. The Hillcats and their pressure defense held the big advantage in the game, however, scoring 25 points off 21 WBU turnovers. On the other end of the court, Wayland converted 15 Rogers State turnovers into just 12 points.
RSU also connected on 53 percent of its shots from the field, compared to WBU's 44.8 percent.
Williams and Kendrell Thompson had 18 points each for the Hillcats, which are 6-0 overall and 2-0 in SAC action.
WBU, 5-3 and 0-1, keeps moving northeast with another SAC contest on Saturday against John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Ark.
