Box Score Marquis Green put in 22 points in his first start of the season and TJ Jacobs added 20 to give the Pioneers an 86-82 victory over Texas Lutheran University on Thursday afternoon at Hutcherson Center. The WBU men rallied from a 10-point deficit with just under seven minutes left in the game to pick up their sixth win of the season.
The Pioneers led throughout much of the first half. Their biggest lead came 16 minutes into the contest when Jacobs hit back-to-back treys to give WBU a 30-16 advantage. The Bulldogs rallied late in the half to close the gap to 37-33 at the break.
The Christmas break didn't appear to affect either team early on. WBU coach Matt Garnett's squad hit 61 percent of their shots from the field in the opening period, including 6-of-10 from long distance. The visitors were 3-of-4 from behind the arch and made good on 57 percent of their field goal attempts.
TLU continued its strong play to open the second half, taking a 70-60 lead on Justin Lindsey's conventional three-point play with 6:54 remaining. The Pioneers put in the next 13 points, highlighted by a four-point play from Jacobs and punctuated by Bobby Watkins's dunk, and never trailed again.
George Williams and Jamie Eisinger also hit the double-digit mark in scoring with 10 points each. Jacobs and Rodrigo Silva had six rebounds each, and Jacobs posted a team-high five assists.
The Pioneers finished out the game shooting 56 percent from the field, 50 percent from the three-point line, and hit 78 percent of their free throw attempts.
Texas Lutheran had a field goal percentage of 59 percent. The Bulldogs hit seven treys and were 85 percent from the charity stripe. Michael Flores led the team with 19 points.
WBU won the battle of the boards 28-21, but were outscored 28-20 in the paint. The Pioneers scored 34 of their points off 19 TLU turnovers and put in 18 second chance points. The visitors were unable to generate any points off of four offensive rebounds.
Garnett's squad, which improves to 6-5 on the season, returns to Sooner Athletic Conference play on Saturday in Chickasha, Okla. where they will take on the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma at 3 p.m.
