Box Score
SHAWNEE, Okla. –
Travis Payton scored with six seconds left to lift the Wayland Baptist Pioneers to a 72-70 Sooner Athletic Conference win over St. Gregory's University here Thursday night.
St. Greg's got a steal and tied the game at 70 on a traditional three-point play by the SAC's second-leading scorer, Fayzon Richey. Wayland called timeout and Payton came through with his game-winning bucket, a running six-foot floater in the lane that banked in with six ticks left.
“Travis made a huge play,” Wayland coach
Matt Garnett said.
St. Gregory's called a timeout and Devonte Young went the length of the floor before putting up an 8-foot shot that missed off of the back of the rim.
Garnett said he was proud of the Pioneers for hanging tough.
“In these type of games you have to find a way to grind it out, and we did that,” he said.
It was Wayland's fourth consecutive win and sixth victory in its last seven games.
Juhreece Thompson led the Pioneers (10-5, 1-1 SAC) with 16 points, followed by Payton with 15, which was one off his season-high.
Reggie Fondren finished with 14 points,
Eric Milam 13 and
Tanner Hazelbaker 10.
“Five guys in double figures…that was great,” Garnett said. “Eric really played well. He posted up well and was real active offensively.”
The Cavaliers (6-5, 0-1) were led by Richey and Tim Stromberg, each with 14 points. Richey finished 5-of-15 from the field, including 0-of-5 from 3-point range.
“Reggie did a really good job of making Richey work for everything he got,” Garnett said. “Our team defense was there in some crucial moments.”
Wayland started the game on a roll, jumping to an 18-5 lead. The Pioneers were up by 12, 34-22, but the Cavaliers managed to close the gap to just four, 36-32, by halftime.
“We had some opportunities to take control of it, but in those moments they were able to make some big plays and we didn't,” Garnett said.
Starting the second half, St. Greg's continued its run and made it 11 unanswered points, and the Cavs eventually took their first lead of the game, 40-38.
But Wayland responded and regained the lead. The Pioneers got a four-point play by Fondren to go up by nine, 61-52, before the Cavaliers went on a 9-1 run to tie it at 62 with 3:30 to go.
Thompson came through for WBU by making the Pioneers' next six points for a 68-63 lead.
“Juhreece played a really good second half,” Garnett said. “He made some big plays down the stretch.”
SGU sank two free throws, which Payton answered with two of his own as Wayland maintained its five-point spread. After the Cavs scored, they came up with a steal and Fayzon converted a three-point play to knot it at 70 with 19 seconds left, leading up to Payton's clutch bucket.
“St. Greg's had some guys who really made some big plays,” Garnett said.
Wayland shot 50 percent (30-of-60) from the floor, including 5-of-18 (28 percent) from long range. The Pioneers hit 7-of-11 free throws. St. Greg's hit 43 percent (23-of-54) from the field, 21 percent (3-of-14) from downtown and 75 percent (21-of-28) free throws.
Wayland held a 35-31 edge in rebounds, led by
Theo Hatcher's eight boards, and had one fewer turnover than the Cavs, 15-14.
“We showed a lot of resolve to hang in and win a big game on the road,” Garnett said. “Now it's time to shift our thoughts to the next one.”
Wayland next plays at 3 p.m. Saturday against top-ranked Oklahoma Baptist (13-2, 1-0), which defeated Lubbock Christian (8-6, 1-1) on Thursday, 73-52.
“Their ranking is well deserved,” Garnett said of the No. 1 Bison. “We're going to have to be really ready to play and come out ready to compete.”
