Box Score
Wayland Baptist's
Markus Monroe made the first of two free throws with 1.07 seconds left, but missed the second as John Brown escaped Hutcherson Center with a wild 67-66 win in Sooner Athletic Conference play on Saturday afternoon.
Wayland (15-6, 6-5 SAC), which led by as many as nine points in the first half, trailed by five after John Brown (13-8, 3-8) scored with seven seconds left. But the Pioneers got new life after
Travis Payton nailed a 3-pointer with 2.46 seconds showing and the Golden Eagles were called for a five-second violation because they couldn't inbound the ball.
Wayland got it, and Monroe was fouled driving to the basket with just over a second left. He missed his initial free throw, but that was waived off because the John Brown player who had fouled out of the game had not been substituted for. Monroe made good on his second first free throw before the Golden Eagles called timeout.
Monroe, who was 6-of-8 from the foul line to that point, missed the game-tying free throw. Wayland's 6-foot-9
Bunja Yaboe got a hand on the rebound and tried to tip it toward the basket, but it didn't fall and the Golden Eagles tallied the win, handing the Pioneers their first home loss of the season after a dozen victories.
With emotion oozing off his team's face, Garnett was quick to lift his players up after the tough, one-point loss.
"As a coach you hope that you prepare your team on a daily basis to execute late-game situations, and our guys did a great job of coming back when the game looked to be over," he said. "And then the last two free throws, there's not a guy in the conference that anyone on our team would want at the foul line in that situation other than Markus.
"I'm extremely proud of the way Markus competes. He's the guy you want in there at that spot. He'll hit a game-winner for us at some point over our last nine games, I can promise you that." Â
Monroe led the Pioneers with 18 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals. Payton finished with a dozen points while
Royal Crouch had 11 and
Barry Johnson 10.
John Brown, which had lost its last five games, got 18 points each from Quinton Smith and Kofi Josephs. The Golden Eagles, who were ranked seventh in an early poll this season, have fallen prey to injuries this season, Garnett said.
"John Brown's record is a product of injury," he explained. "They're a good, well-coached team, and they played very well today. We were able to out-rebound them on the offensive end, 15-5, and we turned them over 25 times, but you just have to give them credit for making us struggle offensively and getting the win."
The Pioneers shot 37 percent (25-of-67) from the field, which is 12 points below their season average of 49 percent, good enough for ninth-best in the NAIA. Despite WBU's below-average shooting, the Pioneers held the lead for 10 minutes in the second half.
"We weren't able to knock shots down that we normally do," Garnett said. "But what we did do was really scratch and claw our way throughout the game.
"We've had a few games lately where we shot the ball really well, but had some deficiencies in other areas, especially rebounding. Tonight we did some things well that have more substance than just making shots, like rebounding, which ultimately gave us a chance to win in the end."
The area of play that stood out the most to Garnett after the heart-breaking loss was his squad's commitment and concern toward Saturday's contest.
"I'm really excited about the remainder of our schedule because I have a team that cares deeply about what they're doing, and that's what you have to have in a tough league like this," he said. "The wonderful part of caring deeply in life is that you'll have a chance to experience some wonderful things. However, you also make yourself vulnerable, and tonight we saw the hard side of caring so deeply.
"This team has stared down more difficult things right in the face already this year, so I know how they'll respond. I'm proud of our effort tonight. I have nothing but good things to say about our heart and resiliency."
Wayland was aiming for its fourth-straight win, which would have matched its longest streak of the season. The Pioneers won their first four outings of the season.
Wayland hits the road for its next three games, taking on No. 16 Mid-America Christian (12-5, 8-3), the team right ahead of the Pioneers in the SAC standings in second place, on Thursday in Oklahoma City. The Pioneers go against Oklahoma Baptist (10-10, 4-6), the 2012 national runner-up which started this season ranked No. 2, on Saturday in Shawnee before a rematch with John Brown on Feb. 10 in Siloam Springs, Ark.WBU defeated both MACU (81-79) and OBU (81-68) in the first half of conference plays.
Wayland returns to the Hutch on Feb. 13 against Southwestern Christian.
