Box Score
Pioneers vs Sul Ross State Gallery
As satisfying as Friday night's come-from-behind victory was for the Wayland Baptist Pioneers, on Saturday afternoon they opted to go with a less dramatic, though no less thrilling, route to victory.
Wayland scored the first 13 points of the game and led by 30 in the first half on its way to a 78-62 victory over Sul Ross State University in the final game of the Pioneer Holiday Classic at Hutcherson Center.
Theo Hatcher recorded his third straight double-double, and Wayland's sizzling start helped the Pioneers to their fifth win in six games.
“I was really pleased with our defensive focus right out of the gate,” WBU coach
Matt Garnett said. “For the majority of the first half we had five guys on the same page, not only playing hard but rotating and trusting each other. As a result we forced a lot of tough jump shots.”
Garnett also liked what he saw offensively.
“For stretches we really worked hard without the ball in our hands and worked hard to get teammates open and get the ball inside. That established a lot of rhythm, which allowed us to shoot the ball well.”
Hatcher ended with a season-high 24 points and 12 rebounds for the Pioneers (9-5) while
Tanner Hazelbaker also had a season-high with 23 points.
Juhreece Thompson got 12 points and eight boards off the bench.
“Theo had a great game, and the most impressive part of it was his six offensive rebounds,” Garnett said. “He's playing hard and pursuing the ball.”
Wayland scored the game's first 13 points and ultimately went ahead 31-4 before Sul Ross State (3-8) notched its first field goal with just under nine minutes remaining before halftime.
“When you get stops and your defense is active, it feeds your offense,” Garnett said. “I think that's what we were really able to do in the first half, allow our defense to feed our offense.”
The Pioneers, who rallied from 17 points Friday night to defeat Texas Lutheran, were up by as many as 30, 43-13, in the first half before settling for a 45-19 intermission lead. Sul Ross never got closer than 14 points in the second half.
Juston Weldon scored 20 points, including 16 in the second half, to lead SRSU. Trey Richardson added 16 points and Chuck Williams had 10.
“In the first half we had several guys do a good job chasing Weldon,” said Garnett, who praised
Reggie Fondren for his defensive efforts on Sul Ross State's Mychal Pinson, who came in averaging close to 15 points a game but ended with just one point on 0-of-10 field goal shooting. “We executed our defensive game plan well.”
Wayland dominated the boards, outrebounding the Lobos, 51-25.
“As a team we rebounded well, and Juhreece and Theo got us going on the boards,” Garnett said.
The Pioneers shot 55 percent (18-of-33) from the field in the first half and ended the game at 48 percent (30-of-63). WBU hit 14-of-17 free throws (82 percent), including a perfect 8-of-8 by Hazelbaker, while knocking down 4-of-13 from 3-point range.
Wayland returns to Sooner Athletic Conference play next week, traveling to Shawnee, Okla., to take on St. Gregory's (6-4) at 8 p.m. Thursday and top-ranked Oklahoma Baptist (12-1) at 3 p.m. Saturday in the backend of doubleheaders with the Flying Queens.
St. Greg's is led by junior Richey Fayzon, the SAC's second-leading scorer averaging 21.2 ppg.
“They have a good pre-conference resume,” Garnett said. “We'll have to play very well in order to compete with them.”
WBU has played one conference opponent, Lubbock Christian, on the road Dec. 4. Both Wayland teams lost.
After his team's recent success, Garnett said he's anxious to get into the thick of the conference race.
“Looking at these last two games, there have been some real positive moments and definitely areas we need to address and improve on,” he said. “Everything starts here with your preparation. That has to be the only thing on our minds. Our preparation and ability to get better this week.
“We want to see continued growth,” he added. “This team has been very focused and shown the ability to get better in practice. That's going to be of utmost importance this week.”
