Box Score HOUSTON –
Royal Crouch scored 17 points and
Robert Waters 11, and
Bunja Yaboe took a charge at the buzzer as No. 21 Wayland Baptist held on to win its season-opener over St. Thomas here Monday night, 60-58.
"This was a quality season-opening win for us," WBU coach
Matt Garnett said.
It was only the second loss in St. Thomas' last 26 home games dating back to the 2012-13 season.
"St. Thomas is not only a good team, but they are so good at home," Garnett said.
Wayland (1-0) sprinted to a 22-7 lead as the Celts missed several open looks. But St. Thomas (0-1) came charging back, and the Pioneers held a 28-25 advantage at halftime.
Wayland stayed in front the entire second half, up by eight points until St. Thomas, rated the equivalent of 32
nd in the NAIA Top 25 Preseason Poll, began chipping away at the lead. The Pioneers led by just one, 59-58, when Waters made the first of two free throws with 5½ seconds left.
When Waters missed the second foul shot, the Celts rebounded and raced up the floor for the possible game-winning points. St. Thomas got off a shot from about 10 feet away in the lane. It missed, but it wouldn't have counted anyway since Yaboe was there to take the charge.
"It was a clear charge," Garnett said. "That sealed the deal."
Maurice Redmond added nine points for Wayland while Yaboe got six,
Jacob Lancaster and
Thiago Randazzo six each. Plamen Hristof's three points rounded out the Pioneers' scoring.
St. Thomas was led by sneoir guards Deric Duley and Jonathan Evans with 14 and 11 points, respectively. Junior forward Bridge Lavey added 10.
Garnett applauded the Pioneers' balanced scoring.
"St. Thomas does a really good job defensively. They take things away from you," he said. "We had some guys step up."
Among them was
Jordon Johnson, who Garnett said "had a real impact on the game. He really defends well and does so many things that aren't always noticed on the stat sheet. He sparked us the second half and gave us really good minutes."
Yaboe and Hristof pulled down eight rebounds each for the Pioneers, who held a 41-31 edge on the boards. WBU hit 6-of-18 3-pointers and 16-of-21 free throws, with Randazzo making all six of his foul shots and Crouch draining all five of his.
Garnett spoke of his team's toughness.
"We knew coming in we were a little shorthanded (senior
Ta'Quan McDew is out with an ankle injury, and senior
Kendall Durant will be eligible next semester), but I feel like we have developed a real toughness in the first six weeks of practice, and that's what it was going to take on the road," he said. "We were gutsy enough to get a win.
"We have to get a lot better at a lot of different things, but the one thing this group has shown on a day-to-day basis is they're tough."
The Pioneers play their home-opener at 9 p.m. Friday against Barclay College (Kan.). Those two teams play again at 1 p.m. Saturday in Hutcherson Center.
