Box Score Wayland Baptist rallied from a 12-point first-half hole with a dominating second-half performance as the 15
th-ranked Pioneers posted a 95-72 victory over No. 25 Southwestern Assemblies of God University on Saturday afternoon in Hutcherson Center.
One of seven teams tied for the conference lead going into Saturday, the Pioneers (14-1, 3-1 SAC) outscored the Lions (10-5, 1-3) 37-9 during a dominating stretch to end the first half and start the second, and WBU outpointed SAGU in the second half, 58-33.
 "I was real pleased with our composure. To be able to stay the course and to respond during the second half, and also the way we ended the first half, I thought was very important," Wayland coach
Matt Garnett said.
 "They're a tough team. Coach (Donnie) Bostwick has those guys playing so hard," Garnett added. "They rebound offensively so well. It felt like they got every 50-50 rebound and got to every loose ball. How hard they were playing took us out of what we were trying to do on the offensive end."
The Pioneers finally got it rolling…and in a big way.
"We matched their energy and all of a sudden we were playing as hard as we know it takes to compete in this league," Garnett said.
Five Pioneers finished in double-figures, led by
Ta'Quan McDew, who recorded a career-high scoring for the second time in as many games. After getting 24 points in Thursday's win over No. 16 Texas Wesleyan, the senior transfer drained 25 on Saturday, including five 3-pointers.
Bunja Yaboe also posted a career-high with 20 points, half of which came from the free-throw line where the big man was 10-of-13.
Robert Waters got 17 points,
Royal Crouch 13 and
Kendall Durant 11. Waters ended with 10 assists for his second double-double of the season.
Crouch pulled down a game-high nine rebounds, followed by Yaboe with eight as Wayland had 48 boards, five more than SAGU. The Pioneers were losing the battle of the boards at halftime, 26-19.
 "I told the guys at halftime that rarely do you lose the rebounding battle and win the game," Garnett said. "Whoever can control the game 15-feet and in, that's where you win games in this conference, and we were quickly reminded of that when the game started.
"If we were going to have an opportunity to get the win we were going to have to find a way to beat those guys to those loose balls and tighten up some things defensively. If we did that it would lead to rhythm on offense."
Two of McDew's five 3-pointers kick-started Wayland's impressive rally. With WBU trailing 38-26, McDew drilled a pair of bombs within 30 seconds of each other, then Crouch got another to fall with four seconds left before intermission to pull Wayland to within 39-37 at the break.
"I though Ta'Quan kept us in the game the first half," Garnett said. "He was really ready to play."
Yaboe scored the first six points of the second half as Wayland completed a 17-1 run to take its first lead since 2-0. Shortly after that, the Pioneers benefited from successive 3-pointers from Waters, McDew and Durant, and after a tip-in by Jason Alexander the Pioneers – fueled by those 11 unanswered points – were starting to run away with it, up 59-45.
"I thought Kendall was so instrumental in that second-half run," Garnett said. "His attack mentality attracted a lot of attention and got us some really good (offensive) looks. He played really tough-minded basketball, and other guys fed off of that,"
The Lions didn't fold, pulling to within nine, 67-58, with just over six minutes still left.
But that's as close as Wayland allowed SAGU to get as the Pioneers – relying on dead-eye free-throw shooting and continued strong defense – went on to stretch the lead back out to as many as 26 points.
SAGU was led by Rishaad Alexander with 15 points. Jason Gentry and Caleb Feemster added 12 each, while Marcus Price got 11.
"They're a good team. They're going to be a force to be reckoned with when it's all said and done," Garnett said.
The Pioneers hit 29-of-61 (48 percent) from the field, 13-of-30 (43 percent) from 3-point range, and 24-of-38 (63 percent) from the free-throw line. The Lions were 26-of-74 (35 percent) from the field and just 8-of-34 (24 percent) from beyond the arc. They hit 12-of-16 free throws.
Wayland returns to action at 8 p.m. Thursday on the road against Mid-America Christian (9-6, 2-1 SAC), which faced Oklahoma City University on Saturday. The Pioneers return home next Saturday to host Science and Arts of Oklahoma (1-9, 0-3).
"We're pleased with how this week went. The guys will get a well-deserved day off (Sunday), then we'll take a hard look at the good and bad of this weekend. We're taking the approach of critical self-evaluation and trying to get better every day.
"We have to gear up for a very big challenge of playing MACU on the road on Thursday, then a quick turnaround and a home game Saturday," he added. "We're excited to go back to work on Monday. This has been a team that's committed to hard work and improving, and I think I'll see that Monday."
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