Box Score
Coming off a pair of losses during a taxing six-day road trip,
Matt Garnett was confident his Wayland Baptist Pioneers would respond as necessary in Hutcherson Center on Thursday night against Southwestern Christian University.
The coach's confidence proved accurate, although it was a junior who led the scoring charge.
Royal Crouch hit a season-high 23 points, and
Markus Monroe added 22 as the Pioneers rolled to a 107-78 Sooner Athletic Conference victory.
"Coming off that road trip, I thought our guys really stepped up to the challenge tonight," Garnett said.
He was especially proud of his four seniors: Monroe,
Travis Payton,
Barry Johnson and
Juhreece Thompson, all of whom started along with junior
Plamen Hristov.
"After the long road trip, the seniors really set a tone in practice with the way we were going to respond in a quick turnaround (from Monday's game in Arkansas)," Garnett said. "I thought they set a positive tone for the night."
After falling behind 14-8, Johnson and Payton hit back-to-back 3-pointers, then Monroe converted a traditional 3-point play before Johnson hit a pair of free throws to complete an 11-0 run and put Wayland up by five.
The Pioneers (17-8, 8-7 SAC) never trailed again.
"February will bring something out in players, especially seniors, that can be positive or negative. I believe these four will play their best basketball because they care so much and they're very committed to trying to be at their best here down the stretch," Garnett said.
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Wayland pushed its lead to 15 points, 45-30, but the Eagles (6-17, 2-14) – coached by former Pioneer assistant Quinn Wooldridge – closed the half on an 8-2 run to trim the margin to 53-45 at intermission.
The Eagles got to within four on three occasions early in the second half, but Hristov nailed 3-pointers to open and close a 12-0 run. The Pioneers later scored 14 unanswered, capped by a fast-break 3 by Johnson, as the Pioneers took an insurmountable 31-point lead, 98-67.
"I'm proud of our guys for their emotional response in the second half," Garnett said. "Every opponent you play is so tough in our league, and this time of year you just have to try to take it to another level defensively with your intensity and your focus. Quinn does such a good job with his team. They really challenge your defensive focus and energy. I thought we rose to that challenge the second half."
The 107 points were the third-most of the season for Wayland, but Garnett might have been more impressed with his team's defense
.
"Our defense started to move and swarm as a collective unit. When we did that we forced them into a few misses, and we started to swarm the rebound which led to some good offense. It really got started when we got more active defensively."
The Pioneers hit 14-of-24 (58 percent) from 3-point range, with Johnson and Hristov getting four bombs apiece. Overall from the field, Wayland shot 51 percent (34-of-67). Johnson ended  with 17 points, Hristov 14 and Payton 11.
"I thought offensively we were in an attacking mode, and we shot it well because of that," Garnett said. "That's really important. If you're shooting a good amount of 3s, they better be quality, rhythm looks, and I thought they were tonight."
Meanwhile, Southwestern Christian, which ranks No. 2 in the NAIA in made 3-pointers per game with 10 1/2, almost got its average with 10. But it took the Eagles 34 attempts, resulting in just a 29 percent success rate.
The Eagles were paced by Tyler Inman's 24 points, including 5-of-11 from long range. Tyler Turner added 13 points and Reggie Sloan 11.
Wayland dominated on the boards, 50-31, with
Bunja Yaboe leading the way with nine boards. Yaboe also had five blocks.
WBU next plays at 3 p.m. Saturday against Oklahoma City University in a pivotal game between the fifth-place Pioneers and the tied-for-third Stars (13-8, 9-5). OCU won the first matchup on Jan. 2, 83-62.
"We need to hit the reset button and really get focused on Oklahoma City," Garnett said. "Coach (Dionne) Phelps has them playing really well. They found their identity as a team here in the last five or six games."
The Stars, who were off Thursday, have won three straight. Their last loss was at home to then No. 4 Southwestern Assemblies of God University, 65-62.
"They're a handful," Garnett said of the Stars. "They're well-coached, talented, and you're going to have to be really focused on the defensive end to try to get a hold of them.
"They kind of punched us in the mouth when we were there. Our guys are going to have to take the challenge and compete possession by possession.
"It's going to be a really big game."
