Box Score GOLDEN, Colo. – Twenty-four hours after taking down the No. 13 team in NCAA Division II, Wayland Baptist couldn't do the same against the No. 24 team as the Pioneers fell to Fort Lewis College (Colo.) Saturday afternoon in the Colorado School of Mines Thanksgiving Classic, 83-64.
"I would have liked for us to play better, but Fort Lewis played a really good game," Wayland coach
Ty Harrelson said. "Their five starters were really good today. They are very disciplined and they played together. I have to give credit to them."
In its final outing before the start of conference play, Wayland (7-2) fell behind by 16 points in the first half and never recovered as the Skyhawks (5-1) snapped the Pioneers' six-game win streak.
"They jumped on us early. We were playing catch-up pretty much right from the start of the game," Harrelson said.
WBU was looking for its fourth win in as many games against Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams, having already beaten Mines on Friday (78-76) and Western State Colorado and Colorado Mesa last weekend in Gunnison, Colo.
But Fort Lewis, whose only loss this season has been to West Texas A&M in Canyon in its season-opener, 90-82, prevented Wayland's RMAC sweep, in part by holding the Pioneers to their lowest point total in almost a year. The last time WBU was held to fewer points was in a 64-61 loss last January to Southwestern Christian, the team the Pioneers face in the Sooner Athletic Conference opener next week.
The Pioneers shot 37 percent (24-of-65) from the field, including 43 percent (8-of-25) from 3-point range where Wayland was just 5-of-18 (28 percent) in the first half. The Pioneers made 8-of-11 free throws for the game, less than half of Fort Lewis' 20-of-25 effort from the foul line.
Wayland was led in scoring by
Joshua Throns and
J.J. Culver with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Cody Thomas and
Ruben Lopez added eight each.
"We got some really good minutes and production out of Cody. He shot the ball well, and J.J. played really hard the whole game," Harrelson said.
Louis Timms, who had posted double-doubles in all but one of the Pioneers' previous eight games, was held to six points, six rebounds and no blocks.
Maurice Redmond finished with five points and five assists.
"A couple of guys who really stand out for us just didn't have it today," said Harrelson, who said freshman
Russell Harrison, averaging close to 16 points a game, was limited to five minutes due to a sore foot.
"I didn't think it was a good idea to try to push him through a whole game, especially with conference starting next week," Harrelson said.
The Skyhawks got 23 points from Rasmus Bach and 21 points and eight rebounds from Joshua Blaylock, who hit 5-of-8 3-pointers where Fort Lewis went 9-of-19 (47 percent). Brandon Wilson pulled down 14 rebounds, all on the defensive end, as the Skyhawks outrebounded Wayland, 35-30.
"It's one of the first times all season we've been out-rebounded," Harrelson said.
The Pioneers committed just nine turnovers, but the Skyhawks did two better than that with just seven giveaways.
"We took care of the ball better today," Harrelson said.
Down 45-30 at halftime, Culver opened the second half with a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to a dozen, but that's as close as it got. The Skyhawks ran off 10 straight point soon after that to take a 60-37 lead, and WBU didn't get any closer than 16 points after that.
Fort Lewis' largest lead was 28.
"I probably didn't do a very good job getting us prepared after a big win last night," Harrelson said. "I feel like if I would have prepared us better we would have been more focused.
"But we got three out of four wins against Rocky Mountain Athletic schools, which isn't bad."
The Pioneers next open SAC play at 8 p.m. Thursday in Bethany, Okla., against Southwestern Christian (4-3).
"We're looking forward to getting back to Plainview and resting up for next week," Harrelson concluded.
