Box Score
Markus Monroe scored a season-high 31 points – including several highlight reel dunks – to lead the Wayland Baptist Pioneers to an 81-68 win over Oklahoma Baptist in Sooner Athletic Conference play Thursday night at Hutcherson Center.
The win marks just the 12
th win in 49 tries over the Bison and the first since the 2007-08 season, a span of 10 straight wins for OBU.
Wayland (11-2, 2-1), normally a sure-handed team from beyond the three-point line, made just two threes -- one in each half -- but was still able to dominate a very talented OBU team.
"The great news is that we didn't let (the making of) our shots dictate our intensity level," said WBU head coach
Matt Garnett, who earned his first win over OBU after four losses. "If we're a team where our offense fuels our defense, then we're in trouble.
"We got good looks tonight, but just didn't hit them. It was good that didn't affect us. We'll shoot it a lot better in the future than we did tonight."
The Pioneers led the Bison (7-7, 1-3) at halftime, 33-23, thanks to a quick run to end the half.
With the Bison up, 22-21, Pioneer
Travis Payton made one of two free throws to tie the score with 5:10 left in the first half. From there, Wayland outscored Oklahoma Baptist, 10-0, to finish out the period, capped by a buzzer-beating three-pointer by
Barry Johnson after a steal from
Royal Crouch.
The Pioneers used the momentum they gained during that burst the remainder of the game, adding to their lead and going on to win by 13 after leading by as many as 22.
"Any time you play OBU you know you're going to have to fight every possession. Coach (Doug) Tolin is always going to have them playing really good basketball," Garnett said. "Tonight, we were able to snatch the momentum in the first half and just carried it over into the second half, which is really important because they're a very good team.
Wayland, which is fifth in the NAIA in three-point percentage, made just 2-of-20 shots from three-point range, but it didn't really matter. The Pioneers (ranked 10th in field goal percentage) shot 71 percent (29-of-41) from inside the arc.
Johnson added 13 and Crouch 11 for the Pioneers, who outrebounded the Bison, 45-33, paced by point guard
Travis Payton's 11 boards. Payton also ended with eight assists, five points and three steals.
"Assists is a very important stat for us," Garnett said. "We had 18 tonight, which tells me that we were moving the ball really well. I'm also proud that we outrebounded them. They're a very good rebounding team. We're going to have to continue to rebound the ball well in order to have success."
OBU was led by Aaron Abram's 26 points and 13 rebounds. Morris Woods added 17 points.
"Woods started playing right before the break for OBU and he's a very talented player, andAbram is very versatile," Garnett said of the Bison's stars. "Those guys are very hard to guard, so you have to guard them with your entire team."
Garnett did not downplay his enthusiasm for the big win, but he also knows that he and his team will have to get right back to work.
"You have to enjoy every win in the SAC because they're all earned, but we have to reset our minds because we have to get ready for a very good Mid-America team on Saturday," the coach said. "They have a lot of weapons and we're going to have to prepare extremely well over the next 24 hours and come out with even more fire than we did tonight."
Mid-America Christian (8-3, 4-1) moved up to 18
th in the latest NAIA poll after defeating OBU, 69-64, on Tuesday. Wayland and MACU will face off at 3 p.m. Saturday in Hutcherson Center.
NOTE: Wayland will recognize 2013 Hall of Honor inductee Ty Harrelson before the Pioneers' game on Saturday.
