Box Score BETHANY, Okla. --- The Wayland Baptist Pioneers dropped a 79-66 decision at Southern Nazarene University on Monday afternoon at the Sawyer Center on the SNU campus. It was the fifth straight Sooner Athletic Conference loss for the Pioneers who fell to 6-7 on the season.
Four WBU men posted double figures in scoring in the contest, led by George Williams with 15. TJ Jacobs had 12, Bobby Watkins added 11, and Isaiah Jackson put in 10. Rodrigo Silva led Wayland with five rebounds. Jacobs handed out seven assists.
There were seven ties and ten lead changes in the first half. After Wayland went up 17-10 midway through the period on a three-pointer by Williams, the #16 Storm responded with seven straight. The hosts took the lead for good with just over three minutes before the intermission.
The Pioneers were down 35-32 at the break, but Isaiah Jackson scored first to open the second half to make it a one-point game. The deficit stayed in the single digits until SNU's Ryan Aaron hit two free throws with 3:49 left to make it 67-57. Aaron came off the bench to score a game-high 26 points for the Crimson Storm.
After hitting five three-pointers in the first 20 minutes, Wayland went just 1-for-5 from long distance in the final period. Southern Naz won the battle inside, outscoring the Pioneers 38-20 in the paint. SNU also won the battle on the boards, 33-28.
"In order to win games against good teams like Southern Nazarene, you have to make hustle plays," said first year head coach Matt Garnett. "Southern Naz made those plays today and we didn't.
"We showed some stretches of good basketball, but we were outworked in the lane."
Following Saturday's contest at USAO, Garnett said that his team needed to do a better job of taking care of the basketball. The Pioneers cut down on the miscues against the Storm with 15, but SNU converted those turnovers into 22 points.
WBU shot 44 percent in the game, while the home team made good on 53 percent of its field goal attempts. The Pioneers were 6-of-17 (35 percent) from long distance and 12-of-19 (63 percent) from the free throw line, while at the other end of the court SNU was 4-of-13 (31 percent) from behind the arch and 19-of-25 (76 percent) from the charity stripe.
Garnett added, "We have to regroup quickly and prepare for a big home weekend very soon."
The Pioneers return to Hutcherson Center later this week with conference games against St. Gregory's University on Thursday evening at 8 p.m. and against defending SAC Champion Oklahoma Baptist on Saturday at 3 p.m.
