Box Score BETHANY, Okla. --- The Wayland men's basketball team played yet another ranked team close in a 74-65 loss at #12 Southern Nazarene University.
A slow second half start has plagued the Pioneers many times during the 2010-11 season, and it happened once again Friday evening at Sawyer Center. The Crimson Storm expanded a 33-28 halftime lead by scoring the first nine points of the final period to take control of the contest.
George Williams finally put the WBU men on the board with a three at the 16:16 mark to end the run. SNU answered with a trey, but despite that, the Pioneers slowly worked their way back into the game closing the margin to four, 60-56, on Bobby Watkins' jumper in the paint with just under four minutes remaining.
WBU stayed close in the first half, and although they never had the lead after the early moments, they kept the Storm advantage to within two possessions. Southern Naz's largest lead in the opening period was six, 18-12, but less than two minutes later Josh Teague hit a three to tie it at 20.
Williams was the game's leading scorer with 19 points. Nathan Harbour, a freshman from Graham, Texas, hit the double digit mark for the first time in his young career with 10 points. He and Watkins shared the rebounding lead with five a piece.
Southern Naz (19-4, 12-3) got 16 points each from Jon West and Xavier Alexander.
The Pioneers shot 47.6 from the field and were 21-of-29 from the free throw line. The Storm made good on 45 percent of their field goal attempts and were 23-of-31 from the line. They had the advantage inside, outscoring Wayland 32-22 in the paint and winning the rebounding battle 33-21. Both teams had 15 turnovers.
Wayland's bench produced much more offense than that of their counterpart on the other end of the floor. The WBU reserves scored 23 points to just 7 by the Storm.
Next up for the Pioneers, who dropped to 7-15 overall and 2-13 in conference play, is a meeting on Saturday afternoon against USAO. Tipoff for that game is scheduled for 3 pm.
