At 10-1, Pioneers equal best start in school history

Box Score

With one more victory, the Wayland Baptist Pioneers will mark their best start in school history. On Wednesday night in Hutcherson Center, Coach Matt Garnett was just happy to pick up one more win and, more importantly, take another step toward becoming a better basketball team.

"The last two weeks I've seen a real commitment to daily improvement, especially on the defensive end," Garnett said following his team's convincing 89-61 win over Ecclesia College. "I believe with our conference being so good, you have to keep getting better as the year goes, and I'm starting to get a sense from this team that that's important to them.

"It's something we have to fight to continue to do each day."

Plamen Hristov scored a career-high 19 points and Ta'Quan McDew added a season-best 18 to lead the 16^th-ranked Pioneers to their 28-point blowout over Ecclesia (4-9), a National Christian College Athletic Association team from Springdale, Ark., that knocked off then No. 12 Oklahoma Baptist by 12 points earlier this season.

"I thought we executed a defensive game plan for long stretches tonight, and that's very important as we continue to progress through our schedule," Garnett said. "It's one thing to play hard defensively, and I think we're doing that, but the second piece of it is to execute, and we're showing signs of improvement in that area."

With Wednesday's win, the Pioneers equaled the 10-1 mark posted by the 2004-05 WBU team on which Garnett was the starting point guard. If the Pioneers win their next game on Friday at Dallas Christian, it will mark their best start ever.

Against Ecclesia, Wayland came out on fire, scoring the first 15 points of the contest. The spurt began and ended with 3-pointers by Hristov, with Royal Crouch adding another bomb.

"I thought we were really ready to play at the beginning of the game," Garnett said. "We were able to get off to a quick start, and it's huge when you can jump out to a lead like that."

The game was never close after Wayland's hot start. The Pioneers were up at halftime, 51-31, then scored the first 12 points of the second half to build a 32-point cushion, their largest of the game.

"We talk all the time about how important it is to end the first half and start the second half (strong), and how very good teams must handle both of those situations," Garnett said. "We're learning how to make sure we're energized and focused on getting back to doing the things we need to do to start the second half. It's something we have to continue to get better at."

McDew recorded a breakaway dunk followed by a 3-pointer during Wayland's impressive second-half start. Garnett praised the senior guard from Florida, who after scoring a season-high 14 points on Tuesday topped that by four points Wednesday.

"I'm really pleased with the way Ta'Quan has played the last two nights. He puts all of his efforts and focus on defense, and as a result he's playing well on offense. It's a good example he's setting for our team."

Crouch added 15 points and transfer Kendall Durant, in his second game since becoming eligible at the semester, added 11 as the Pioneers shot 56 percent (33-of-59) from the field, including 8-of-21 (38 percent) from 3-point range.  Eleven of the 14 Pioneers who saw action scored, and Hristov missed only once in eight field goals attempts.

"We shot a good percentage, which is directly tied to how the ball was moving. We moved it to the open man and stayed in an attack mode, and when you do that you shoot the ball better," Garnett said. "I thought the guys played very unselfishly tonight."

Wayland, the top assist team in the NAIA averaging just over 20 a game, ended with 18, led by Robert Waters with six.

A day after being outrebounded in an 85-61 victory over Northern New Mexico, WBU held a 43-35 advantage on the boards, with Bunja Yaboe pulling down a game-high eight boards. Jacob Lancaster added six, and 13 Pioneers recorded at least one rebound.

"We did better tonight," Garnett said of the Pioneers' rebounding efforts, which saw the Royals get 14 offensive boards. "I thought we showed progress on the defensive side of our rebounding, but we're not there yet. The guys focused on it and it has to be something we keep developing within our team, but there were some positive signs.

"If we can control the game 15 feet and in, which means being more physical than your opponent, I think that is where games are won in our conference. It's something that we are beginning to truly understand and to develop."
 
Wayland also had a solid blocking night, swatting away 11 shots, three off the school record. Seven players tallied blocks, led by Yaboe and Lancaster with three each.

The Royals were led by Jarvis Green's 13 points, with Michael Richardson and Austin Burroughs adding 10 apiece. Ecclesia shot 32 percent (12-of-31) from the field, 30 percent (6-of-20) from long range and 60 percent (15-of-25) from the foul stripe.

Wayland travels to take on Dallas Christian (4-11) at 5:30 p.m. Friday. The Pioneers defeated the Crusaders, 110-71, when the teams met in Plainview on Nov. 25.

"Going on the road and playing those guys is going to be an extremely tough task," Garnett said. "They've played people very tough this year, and playing on the road is going to make us have to do little things right and make sure we are dialed in defensively. I think on the road you're as good as your defense; teams that win on the road win because they defend well."

With two solid showings already this week, Garnett is looking for another on Friday.

"I'm pleased with coming out and playing back-to-back like we did. Now we have one more opportunity to play our best basketball of the week, and that's what our goal is Friday, to play our best basketball of the week."