Box Score St. Gregory's made a dozen 3-pointers – including nine in the first half – compared to just three for Wayland Baptist as the Cavaliers knocked off the No. 14 Pioneers in Sooner Athletic Conference play Monday night in Hutcherson Center, 88-67.
The Cavaliers (9-7, 5-3 SAC) opened the game with three long balls, jumping out to a 9-3 lead. Wayland (16-3, 5-3) looked as though it finally got going, getting a three from
Ta'Quan McDew and a put back from
Plamen Hristov after defensive stop.
Down 16-13,
Kendall Durant sank two free throws to bring the Pioneers within one, and Hristov drilled a three with nine minutes and 46 seconds left in the first half to give Wayland its first tie of the game, 18-18.
Richard Shields answered with a layup on the following possession, but
Bunja Yaboe made a layup after two missed threes from the Pioneers to even the score once more, 20-20.
Wayland stayed with the Cav's over the next few possessions, trailing by just one, 25-24, with 7½ minutes left in the first half, but that's when the Cavaliers went on a game-changing 19-1 run and took a 46-27 lead into halftime.
After shooting just 23 percent (8-of-35) from the field in the first half, the Pioneers, who average an NAIA top-five 50 percent from the floor, never got closer than 17 points in the second half.
Eight players hit at least one 3-pointer for St. Greg's, and five scored between nine and 17 points with Jaron Vierra topping the list with 17 points and three 3s,
along with 10 rebounds. Dylan Lemley added 15 points, Zack Samaha 13 and Marty Wilkerson 11. The Cavs were 12-of-38 (32 percent) from 3-point range, with more than half of their 72 attempts coming from beyond the arc.
Wayland was led by
Jordon Johnson's career-best 15 points and eight rebounds.
Ta'Quan McDew added 10 points and nine boards.
The Pioneers, who were hurt by 18 turnovers, shot 33 percent (23-of-70) from the field and just 12 percent (3-of-25) from long distance.
Saturday's loss was the first in Hutcherson Center for the Pioneers since February 1, 2014 when John Brown defeated WBU, 67-66.
Head coach
Matt Garnett said that sometimes in the Sooner Athletic Conference even when you prepare well, your opponent just outplays and that was the case Monday.
"The real challenge in the SAC is sometimes the other team literally plays better than you," Garnett said. "I thought we prepared well and our guys were focused and ready to play, but we just didn't shoot well tonight.
"What you have to do is evaluate the process more than the results. I want us to look at what type of shots were we taking, what type of shots we gave up, and trust the process. I've been very hard on this team after games we won when the formula wasn't right, we were just fortunate enough to win. I think you have to do that in losses too.
"Our goal is to get better and to end up in the top tier of the conference. The teams that continue to improve end up in that top tier, so we're going to focus on that as we prepare for OBU."
Wayland looks to bounce back on Thursday when it travels to Shawnee, Okla., to take on No. 8 Oklahoma Baptist for the start of a four-game road stretch.
