Box Score
CANYON – Wayland Baptist came within one field goal of posting its first-ever road win against West Texas A&M as the Buffaloes held off the Pioneers on Monday night at the First United Bank Center, 84-82.
Wayland, which held an 8-point lead in the first half, had one final shot to win, but Markus Monroe's near 30-foot shot at the buzzer missed.
"We knew it would take 40 minutes of solid play against a very good team," Wayland coach Matt Garnett said. "We played well at times. We just needed to put more of those (times) together."
It was Wayland's first loss of the season in its first road game following four home wins. NCAA Division-II member WT, playing its home-opener, improved to 3-2.
"I thought our young men really competed hard and played with a great deal of compassion," Garnett said. "That was a big game against a very good team, and I thought we competed very hard."
Wayland led most of the first half. The Pioneers' largest lead was eight points on two occasions at 22-14 and 40-32. WT ended the half on a 10-4 run to cut Wayland's lead to two, 44-42, at intermission.
Neither team led by more than five in the second half. WT was up 59-54 with 15 minutes to go, but Wayland battled back and four minutes later took its last lead, 65-63. It was tied at 75 with three minutes remaining.
WT's Tez Dumars hit a clutch 3-pointer to put the Buffs up 82-77 with 49 seconds left, but Wayland's Barry Johnson made a layup then, with 15 seconds left, drilled a 3-pointer to bring the Pioneers to within 83-82 with 15 seconds left.
Wayland fouled Keon Pledger with 5.6 seconds left. In his first trip to the line, Pledger hit the first foul shot but missed the second, leaving the Pioneers a chance to win.
With Wayland out of timeouts after taking one before Pledger's foul shots, Barry Johnson rebounded for the Pioneers and threw ahead to Monroe, who launched a running 28-footer just before the final horn.
Monroe's prayer, however, wasn't answered.
"We would have liked to have gotten a cleaner look," Garnett said. "It was a tough shot. We got a decent look. It was just a little long."
The coach said it's difficult when a team falls in such a close game.
"If that shot goes in, it's a wonderful world. If it misses, it feels like devastation," he said. "That was a locker room that was sincerely hurting, which is a sign of guys that care."
Garnett said it's "good to face tough situations like that early" in the season.
"There's no better way to get better than to go experience some things. We got some great experience in a close game. We're going to face those some things in conference.
"We did some things right and there were some things we could have done better. We'll take those and continue to improve. We need to be self-critical and see where our shortcomings are defensively and in spots offensively."
Monroe led Wayland with 25 points, followed by former WT player Johnson with 16, Sasha Ovcharenko with 11 and Juhreece Thompson with 10. Travis Payton handed out 10 assists.
WT's Drimir Ferguson led all scorers with 33 points. Antjuan Ball added 19 and Dumars 17 for the Buffs.
Both teams shot well from the field but struggled from the free-throw line. Wayland hit 51 percent (31-of-60) from the floor, including 8-of-15 from long range, but made only 52 percent (12-of-23) from the foul line. WT's numbers were 57 percent (32-of-56) from the field, including 6-of-16 from deep, and 56 percent (14-of-25) from the free throw line.
The Buffs outrebounded Wayland, 36-29. The Pioneers committed just nine turnovers compared to 14 for WT.
Garnett pointed to a need to improve his team's consistency.
"We need to make sure we don't give any possessions away, especially in a game like that," he said. "We have to be able to maintain what we're doing. It was rarely effort; it was more execution. It's a matter of understanding situations and staying very disciplined possession after possession."
The Buffs, under former Wayland player and coach and 2012 WBU Athletic Hall of Honor inductee Rick Cooper who is in his 21st season in Canyon, improved to 21-1 in the all-time series against Wayland, which posted its only win in 2007 in Plainview.
The Pioneers return to Hutcherson Center, where they won their first four games of the season, at 3 p.m. Saturday against Ecclesia College (Ark.). The game will be the third of the week for the Royals (3-4), who play Rogers State and Lubbock Christian before taking on Wayland.
Also on Saturday, the Flying Queens host Our Lady of the Lake at 1 p.m. As Wayland's Thanksgiving gift to the community, no admission will be charged to the doubleheader.
