Box Score With almost half of the Wayland Baptist lineup scoring in double-figures in the 21
st-ranked Pioneers' 110-71 blowout victory over Dallas Christian, the total points column on the stat sheet is where most people's attention would figure to be be focused.
But not WBU coach
Matt Garnett.
"The biggest thing I like is 28 assists and eight turnovers," Garnett said following the victory on Tuesday afternoon in Hutcherson Center. "We've really focused on taking care of the ball and making the obvious pass instead of the homerun play. Today, we showed improvement in those areas."
Jordon Johnson, starting his second game at point-guard, ended with a 10 assists and nine rebounds to lead Wayland (6-0) in both those categories.
As for scoring, almost half of the Wayland lineup scored in double-figures as six Pioneers recorded at least 11 points.
Bunja Yaboe, in just 16 minutes of play, led the way with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and 3-of-3 from the free-throw line.
Royal Crouch added 16 points, Plamen Hristof and
Thiago Randazzo added 15 each,
Ta'Quan McDew put in 13 and
Jacob Lancaster tacked on 11.
"I liked our balance," Garnett said of his team. "That distribution shows that they enjoy playing with one another, and that's always a positive that you can build on as the year continues.
"They're an unselfish group. Twenty-eight assists shows the ball is moving and we're playing pretty selfless on the offensive end, which is good."
Less than 24 hours after taking down McMurry, 91-61, the Pioneers had no problem doing the same to Dallas Christian (2-8), which dropped its fourth game to a member of the Sooner Athletic Conference following previous setbacks to Southwestern Assemblies of God (89-60), John Brown (98-85) and Texas Wesleyan (77-72).
"Dallas Christian has some talented players, and we knew we had to do things right in order to slow them down offensively," Garnett said. "They have good penetrators and good shooters, so we really needed to play good team defense in order to slow those guys down."
Wayland held a modest 21-16 lead eight minutes into the game when the Pioneers produced their first breakaway run. Started by a dunk by Lancaster and capped by a 3-pointer from Randazzo, Wayland scored 10 unanswered points to begin putting away the Crusaders.
WBU's next big spurt came early in the second half. Already holding a comfortable 21-point, 61-40 cushion, the Pioneers went on an 11-2 run to completely take the Crusaders out of it.
The final 39-point margin matched Wayland's largest lead.
It was Wayland's highest point total since the Pioneers defeated Northwood last season, 112-84. WBU shot 53 percent (42-of-80) from the field and 76 percent (19-of-25) from the free-throw line.
Dallas Christian struggled from 3-point range, making just 3-of-19 (16 percent). Sophomore guard Trent Dawson led the Crusaders with 16 points, followed by Joshua Harris with 14.
"We're getting closer to what we need to be on the defensive end, but the level of play that you face in our conference night-in and night-out will expose any weakness you have on the defensive end, so we have to be paranoid about our improvement on that end on a daily basis so we can grow into a team that can find a way to stop people in our league," Garnett said. "That's a challenge, and we are a work in progress."
Speaking of conference play, it's just nine days away as Wayland heads to Oklahoma City to take on Southwestern Christian on Dec. 4 and Oklahoma City on Dec. 6. Wayland's final conference tune-up comes in Alpine against Sul Ross State (0-3) at 3 p.m. Saturday.
"Sul Ross always has a good team," Garnett said. "They have always been very difficult to beat at home, which is why we're going out there. We're going to have to be able t find a way to win games on the road, and the key to it is playing great defense. We are going to focus really hard this week preparing for Sul Ross and be hopefully ready to defend.
"If your defense doesn't travel well on the road, you're in trouble," the coach added. "I want to see this group continue to commit to improving on the defensive end. If we can do that each day we'll find our way this year."
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