Box Score
Pioneer Basketball vs. Texas Lutheran Gallery
During almost every Wayland Baptist practice, the Pioneers pretend they're 15 points behind an opponent and have to claw and scratch their way from out of a big hole.
Those drills came in very handy Friday night.
Wayland rallied from a 17-point deficit to defeat Texas Lutheran University on the first day of the Pioneer Holiday Classic at Hutcherson Center, 70-64.
“I'm real proud of our comeback,” Wayland coach
Matt Garnett said. “You can and we will dwell on things we didn't do well, but at the same time you're going to have to come back and win games in our league, and we showed we can do that, which is a big positive.”
Wayland (8-5) trailed 38-21 late in the first half but outscored Texas Lutheran 44-24 after intermission to take the win, the Pioneers' fourth in five games.
WBU got 18 points from
Tanner Hazelbaker, 14 from
Theo Hatcher, 11 from
Juhreece Thompson and 10 from
Eric Milam. Hatcher also pulled down 10 rebounds for his second straight double-double. The Bulldogs (2-8) were led by Justin Lindsey with 13 points, Evan Reed with 12 and Garrett Wilkins with 11.
Garnett said he wasn't surprised the Texas Lutheran exploded for such a large early lead.
“They hadn't shot the ball well all year, but they do so many other things well. They've been waiting for a night when they did shoot well for it to all come together,” he said. “They played very well the first half and we didn't handle their ball pressure, or their intensity or physicality. That's a staple of Texas Lutheran teams. They are going to be hard-nosed.”
Down by 17 with 3:20 left in the first half, Wayland cut it to 14, 40-26, by halftime. The Pioneers trailed by 13, 42-29, when they went on a 17-3 run to take a 46-45 lead on a 3-pointer by Hazelbaker at the 13:45 mark. It was Wayland's first lead since being up 14-13.
“We had to make sure we made the first run (of the second half),” Garnett said. “We always tell our guys that we need to score the first points and get the first stop in each half, and when you're down 14 that becomes of the utmost importance.
“We thought if we could get it under 10 as quickly as possible, then hopefully we could cause them to miss some of the shots they had been hitting and put a little pressure on them.”
The lead went back and forth several times until an inside bucket by Milam gave Wayland the lead for good at 58-57 with 6:39 to go.
“We just needed to settle down, be poised, embrace the diversity and try to defeat it with execution,” Garnett said of overcoming the 17-point deficit. “The tendency when you get down big is to try to make a 10-point play or something like that, but the main thing you have to do is string stops together.”
A 3-pointer by TLU's Justin Lindsey – the last of the Bulldogs' 10 bombs – cut Wayland's margin to 66-64 with 1:24 showing. After the Bulldogs missed a chance to tie it up, the Pioneers put it away at the free-throw line. Hazelbaker swooshed a pair of foul shots before Hatcher did the same, accounting for the final six-point margin.
“Theo made some big plays, and Tanner had another good effort offensively,” said Garnett, who also singled out a handful of players for taking charges. “I can think of three times when we took a big charge on a big possession. I'm really proud of that. Being willing to take that charge is crucial to winning big games.”
Wayland shot just 33 percent (9-of-23) from the field in the first half when Texas Lutheran hit 63 percent (12-of-19). But the roles reversed after halftime as the Pioneers went for 63 percent (15-of-24) compared to 33 percent (10-of-30) for the visitors.
“We played with much more poise the second half and executed the game plan and got the ball inside,” Garnett said. “We played much more aggressively instead of being on our heels.”
Wayland held a 33-24 edge on the boards, and after committing 11 turnovers in the first half, the Pioneers turned it over just six times after the break. Texas Lutheran gave it away 22 times.
Wayland takes on Sul Ross State University (3-8) at 3 p.m. Saturday. Sul Ross defeated Dallas Christian (1-18), 105-90, earlier Friday. Dallas Christian and Texas Lutheran meet at 1 p.m. Saturday.
“We have to play two in 24 hours, which will be a great test both mentally and physically and one we're going to have to be able to pass,” Garnett said.
