Pioneers prevail after coach's apology

Box Score After exiting the locker room at halftime of Tuesday night's contest between Wayland Baptist and No. 14 Our Lady of Lake University, Pioneers men's basketball coach Ty Harrelson took to the PA announcer's microphone to apologize to WBU's fans for his team's first-half performance.
 
"I let everybody know that we were going to get better as we go on. I wasn't sure if it was going to be today," Harrelson said.
 
It was, and the inspired Pioneers came from behind to knock off the Saints in Hutcherson Center, 81-72.
 
Harrelson was quite active Tuesday, also receiving a technical foul early in the game after miscommunication with the referees over a foul called on WBU's Marshall Nelson.
 
Both teams came out flat with careless turnovers and sloppy play. Harrelson's "T" momentarily boosted the Pioneers (6-1), but the Saints (2-1) maintained a slight edge through full-court presses that garnered steals and fast-break points. OLLU went up by as many as six points in the first half before Wayland to cut it to two, 35-33, at the break.
 
"I told our guys we needed to ball fake," Harrelson said. "We got in our half-court offense and turned the ball over. It was embarrassing. We knew they were going to press and we played on our heels."
 
Even with the Pioneers' mistakes and early foul trouble from reigning Sooner Athletic Conference Player of the Week Louis Timms, Wayland kept the game close going into intermission.
 
The second half began similar to the first, with lots of miscues by both clubs. The Pioneers kept plugging, however, and after falling behind by nine, 54-45, had to dig even deeper.
 
Down 64-62 with 6½ minutes remaining, Wayland scored the next 10 points – the first six by Julian Pesava – to kick off a 19-8 game-ending run.
 
While shooting 4-of-22 from the 3-point line, the Pioneers made a living in the paint, scoring 46 inside the box.
 
"We attacked a little bit more," Harrelson said. "I feel like at the end of the game we just came together and said we're going to play basketball now. We also made a little bit of a defensive adjustment."
 
The attack primarily came from Timms and freshman Russell Harrison. Both finished with double-doubles – Louis with a game-high 22 points and 11 rebounds and Harrison with 15 points and a game-best 15 boards.
 
"It was a matter of time," Harrelson said of Timms' emergence late. "Louis goes 9-of-10 (from the field). If he gets his hands on the ball, he can be pretty good. He made big plays. That just shows you what he's capable of.
 
"Our starters aren't perfect," the WBU coach said. "I'm happy they performed in the second half."
 
Also reaching double-figures was Maurice Redmond with 12 points to go with seven assists and six boards. Pesava scored 10.
 
"Pesava was one of the best players on the court," Harrelson said. "He (Redmond) filled the stat sheet.

"If you told me we'd win with 26 turnovers, I'd call you a liar. That's the beauty of having a deep team. We played the last 10 minutes the way I wanted."
 
The Pioneers next head back to Colorado for the second straight weekend, traveling to Golden to face two more NCAA Division II teams in Colorado School of Mines on Friday and Fort Lewis College on Saturday. Both start at 4 p.m. CST.
 
"These are two more games that will help us figure out who we are before conference," Harrelson said.