Box Score Wayland Baptist's
Travis Payton made an acrobatic lay-up with four seconds left, and Mid-America Christian missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer as the Pioneers knocked off the No. 18 Evangels in Sooner Athletic Conference action on Saturday afternoon in Hutcherson Center, 81-79.
After Payton's roundhouse layup put Wayland ahead with four ticks left, the teams alternated timeouts before the Evangels put the game in the hands of Semar Farris. The 5-foot-5 guard had already made seven 3-pointers on the day and scored 29 points, but his last 3-point attempt bounced off the rim as time expired.
Pioneers head coach
Matt Garnett was pleased with both his team's final offensive possession and defensive stand.
"We wanted to get as close to a last-second shot as possible," he said. "Markus (Monroe) started to attack and had good timing, drawing attention to himself. He made a great pass to Travis who was able to finish. It's good when you have a guy like Marcus who can score like that and make good reads. They were both big-time plays.
"On defense, Farris is such a good player that we were hoping we could make him take a tough shot. I think we did that, but I would have liked for him to not get such a good look at the rim. It's always good to see the ball bounce your way because he's going to make that shot sometimes."
The win improved Wayland to 12-2 on the season and 3-1 in SAC play as the Pioneers tied the fourth-best record in school history after 14 games. MACU fell to 8-4, 4-2.
Monroe scored 17 points to lead WBU, while Payton and
Juhreece Thompson netted 15 each.
Barry Johnson added 13 and
Kelly Lawson 12. Lawson just missed a double-double with nine boards.
With five players in double figures Garnett was proud of his team's overall offensive performance, especially from his two big men, Thompson and Lawson.
"We didn't have anyone with great offensive rhythm today. The game just turned into a grind-it-out slug fest," Garnett said.
"With five guys in double figures and Sasha (Ovcharenko) with seven points, we had to manufacture a lot of our offense. Juhreece and Kelly carried us through some tough moments on the offensive end and I'm very proud of them."
All five MACU starters scored in double figures, accounting for all but four of the Evangels' points.
Both teams shot close to 43 percent from the field, although MACU outscored Wayland from 3-point range significantly by making 13-of-27 compared to the Pioneers' 4-of-20. The Pioneers won it at the free-throw line where they hit 17-of-22 (77 percent) compared to MACU's 4-of-8.
Wayland led 38-34 at halftime. The Pioneers led by as many as five in the first half and eight in the second, but the Evangels tied the game up, 77-77, for the seventh time after Farris sank two free throws with 1:26 to go.
After a near disastrous turnover, the Pioneers regained possession and Payton, WBU's senior point guard, brought the ball across midcourt. Farris went for a steal but missed and was out of position, allowing Payton to drive to the basket and take a 79-77 lead with 43 seconds left.
MACU's point guard, Farris made a drive to the basket as well, sinking a floater to even the score again, 79-79, with 24 seconds left.
After a series of timeouts, Monroe gathered the ball near midcourt and drove to the basket, dishing to Payton for the winning bucket.
"I'm proud of our guys for their resiliency tonight," Garnett said. "A major key that we have been focusing on is, 'Don't give in.' Whatever adversity we face we wanted to make sure we defeated it.
"We grinded it out today and I'm proud of our guys for not giving in and finding a way to win. Now we just have to be ready to get better on Monday."
The Pioneers are on the road for their next three games against Texas Wesleyan on Thursday, USAO on Saturday and No. 12 St. Gregory's on Jan. 20 before coming back home to take on No. 2 Southwestern Assemblies of God University on Jan. 23.
