Box Score Wayland Baptist once more rallied from a big deficit but came up short again, falling to Southwestern Christian when the No. 24 Pioneers couldn't get either of two 3-pointers to fall in the final seconds and the Eagles escaped Hutcherson Center with a 64-61 Sooner Athletic Conference win.
In being held to their lowest point total of the season, Wayland (11-6, 3-3 SAC) made just 3-of-27 (11 percent) from 3-point range.
"I thought Southwestern Christian did a good job of protecting the 3-point line. They really made Rob Waters work," Wayland coach
Ty Harrelson said. "They did a good job mixing up between man and zone. They're also long, and they contested everything. Even when we got an open shot, they still got a hand up even if they were a couple of steps away."
After rallying from 16 points down in a 98-92 loss to Science and Arts of Oklahoma on Thursday, the Pioneers found themselves trailing by 15 points, 35-20, late in the first half against the Eagles (7-8, 3-3).
"We switched up our starting lineup to help with that, but we had the same result," Harrelson said of his team's slow start. "I need to go to work and figure out the best way to get us to play in the first half like we've been playing in the second half."
Wayland was within eight points until Southwestern Christian's Shawn Scott hit a shot just before the halftime horn to give the Eagles a 38-27 intermission edge.
Wayland put forth a furious second-half rally with a series of spurts, the first a 9-0 run capped by a tip-in by
Cody Thomas followed by a length-of-the-court layup by
Anietie Jack to get the Pioneers within three, 44-41.
Southwestern Christian then went on its own run, outscoring Wayland 9-2 to stretch the lead back out to 10, 53-43, midway through the second half.
That's when the Pioneers put it in another gear, going on a 14-1 run. A 3-pointer by Waters with just under five minutes to go gave Wayland its first lead, 57-54, since the first two minutes of the game.
"I thought
Cody Thomas was fantastic off the bench for us," Harrerlson said. "He really ignited us to come back and take that lead. I thought he played his best all-around game."
Just when it looked like Wayland had things figured out, they went south again.
The Eagles scored on both sides of a costly Pioneer turnover to regain the upper-hand, and they never gave it up again, although Wayland did manage to tie it at 60 with 2:55 to go.
"We took a lead but then turned the ball over in transition," Harrelson said. "I've been preaching how important those crunch-time minutes are."
Southwestern Christian made three free throws as Wayland missed a pair of 3s and a short jumper. Thomas was able to knock down a foul shot to pull the Pioneers to within 63-61 with 31 ticks left, then the Eagles' Mikel Parish did the same on the other end with 16 seconds to go, again making it a three-point game.
Following a pair of timeouts, Wayland put five of its top shooters in the game, which resulted in
Marshall Nelson launching a pair of 3-pointers from the top of the key, the last following an offensive rebound by
Maurice Redmond.
As was the case most of the game for the Pioneers, Nelson's shots didn't fall and the Pioneers dropped their third straight game.
"We need to make plays down the stretch. We need our upperclassmen to step up and do that," Harrelson said. "They're fully capable, and they will as we go through the conference season. It just didn't happen this week."
Waters wound up with a game-high 14 points, while Thomas had his first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Jordon Johnson also had a dozen points while
Jordan Tolbert finished with 10.
"I made a mistake. I should have had
Jordan Tolbert on the court a little bit more," Harrelson said. "He had a great game, and he should have been out there when we needed him."
Wayland shot just 31 percent (21-of-67) overall, while SCU was a bit better at 38 percent (23-of-60), including 8-of-18 3-pointers (44 percent).
Harrelson said the Pioneers' off-shooting day caught him by surprise.
"We were hitting everything (in shoot-around) this morning," he said.
After Wayland was down nine rebounds at halftime, each team finished with 44, with Wayland grabbing 19 on offense. The Pioneers had 13 turnovers, six fewer than the Eagles.
Southwestern got 23 points from Marvin White, 11 from Parish, and 10 from Gabi Laurent. James Still, the Eagles' 6-foot-10 senior, finished with five points and 14 rebounds.
"I thought we did a good job on defense. We buckled down when we had to," Harrelson said of Wayland's effort that matched a season-low point total for an opponent.
Wayland now hits the road for a four-game swing, including two games next week against ranked opponents in No. 11 Texas Wesleyan (13-4, 4-2) on Thursday night and No. 18 Southwestern Assemblies of God (13-4, 4-1) on Saturday afternoon. Texas Wesleyan defeated John Brown on Saturday, 83-73, while SAGU took on Oklahoma City later in the day.
Harrelson said he hasn't lost any confidence in his team.
"We've lost three in a row. When I was playing we started out 4-4 and finished conference 13-5," the coach said. "It's still early in conference."
He said the Pioneers "need to play to win instead of playing not to lose." He also said they need to step up their practices a bit.
"We need to pick up the intensity in practice. That's my fault.
"I'm very confident in the team. We just had a bad shooting day."
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