Box Score Matt Garnett says his Wayland Baptist Pioneers "are a much better basketball team when we're active" on the basketball court.
Suffice it to say the Pioneers were very, very active right out of the gates on Thursday night against Oklahoma City University.
No. 18 Wayland roared to a 31-9 lead and went up by as many as 32 points in the first half before ultimately posting a satisfying 98-71 Sooner Athletic Conference win over the red-hot, 23
rd-ranked Stars.
"Our activity made us a good team tonight," Garnett said after the Pioneers (20-4, 9-4 SAC) recorded another resounding home victory and took over sole possession of second place in the conference. "If we're active – chasing loose balls, getting deflections – we're a much better team than when we're not playing with great activity."
Royal Crouch scored 27 points – his second-best offensive outing of the season – and
Bunja Yaboe finished with 13 points with 17 rebounds – including eight offensive boards – for his fourth double-double.
Robert Waters added 14 points while
Ta'Quan McDew got 13 and
Jacob Lancaster 11.
Jordon Johnson contributed a team-high seven assists.
"This was a very good win," Garnett said. "Oklahoma City is really good and they're going to win a lot of games down the stretch. We were fortunate enough to do things well enough to win tonight."
With the score knotted at 5, Wayland ran off 19 unanswered points, starting with the second of two early dunks by Yaboe and a 3-pointer by Crouch. Lancaster contributed a couple of buckets and Waters dumped in two of his four 3-pointers during the blitz.
"They're a really good team that can score, and we were fortunate to get them to miss early and get a bit of a lead," Garnett said of the Stars. "We talk about who can be more physical 15 feet and in, and I thought we did that early."
After the early onslaught, the Stars (12-7, 8-5) never recovered.
"I thought our guys stayed aggressive and kept defensive rebounding," Garnett said.
A layup by Johnson made it a 30-point game, 49-19, then a jumper by Lancaster gave Wayland its largest lead of the evening, 32 points at 53-21, with less than 3:00 to go.
"We really try to break the game into playing every possession. It's a simple philosophy of 'take a great shot, force a difficult shot, rebound the first miss.' Sometimes it's very hard to get that done, especially with the caliber of teams in our conference."
OCU, which had won six straight, simply had no answer as the Pioneers avenged a 93-89 loss to the Stars from when they met way back on Dec. 6 in Oklahoma City.
"We talked about defending and forcing tough shots and then rebounding the first miss. I thought our guys came out and defended according to our game plan," Garnett said.
The closest the Stars got in the second half was 20 points, 65-45. The Pioneers were able to build the margin back up to as many as 31 on a layup by Crouch that made it 91-60 with 6:12 to go.
The Pioneers shot 51 percent (39-of-77) from the field, compared to OCU's 41 percent (29-of-71), and out-rebounded the Stars, 50-35. WBU had 22 assists, doubling their number of turnovers.
"I love that we had contributions from across the board," Garnett said of his balanced lineup. "When we can sub and get better in a substitution – as far as energy and execution – that's a good thing and something that can equal success. I thought we subbed and continually got better tonight."
The coach also credited an active student fan section.
"It looked to be a lot of Wayland athletes," he said. "They were top-notch. They were a great sixth man."
Garnett said the Pioneers will need more great support on Saturday when they host Southwestern Christian (6-15, 2-11), which knocked off Science and Arts of Oklahoma on Thursday, 77-70.
"Southwestern Christian has two top-25 wins outside of league play, and we understand how good they are because we were very fortunate to win the game (76-72) in their gym in December," he said. "They've had a rash of injuries, but they have everybody back. It's going to be a big challenge for us. Our guys know that because they experienced it. We're going to have to be really ready to play and prepare well (Friday).
"Going on three weeks now, our mentality has been continually trying to improve each day. We need to do that (Friday) getting ready for a well-coached team."
