Pioneers roll McMurry, 97-68, in home debut

Wayland Baptist's starters came up one point shy of all five scoring in double figures as the Pioneers rolled to a 97-68 victory over McMurry University in their home-opener Friday night in Hutcherson Center.

Josh Throns and Tyrone Davis scored 16 points apiece, Ruben Lopez and Rokas Mazionis put in a dozen each, and J.J. Culver added nine for the Pioneers (4-0), who jumped out to a 14-4 lead and never looked back.

"We started out really well. The team came out really focused and got up really quick. Josh hit a couple of early shots which got us going, and our pressure and intensity were great. That definitely sped up the game," Wayland coach Ty Harrelson said.

After Wayland got up by 29 points, McMurry ended the first half on an 8-0 run to make it 51-30 at intermission. The closest the War Hawks got in the second half was 19, and the Pioneers' largest lead was 32 just before McMurry closed the game with a 3-pointer.

Harrelson said his team played through numerous ailments.

"Josh cut his eye, Trevonta (Robertson) had a sore ankle, Tre (Fillmore) was out there with a sore knee, Abdi (Ghedi) hurt his ankle, Ruben dislocated his shoulder and came back… That's a sign of a tough team. I preach about being tough and physical, so to see those guys play through some of that and never complain, I'm really proud of them."

Lopez may have been the most impressive, running off the floor to pop his shoulder back into place then running back on without missing any time. Shortly after coming back he hit a 3-pointer.

The Pioneers shot 52 percent from the field (33-of-64), with Mazionis going 6-for-6. He also pulled down six rebounds, tying Culver for team-high honors. Lopez dished out five assists and grabbed five steals.

"It was nice to get everybody out on the court and get everyone some minutes. We played six freshmen in the game," Harrelson said.

McMurry also played all 16 of its players.

Harrelson thanked War Hawks coach Zach Pickelma for agreeing to play the game after the Pioneers lost two conference contests with St. Gregory's when that university announced earlier in the week it is closing.

"It really helped us out picking up a game that quickly," said the coach, who also thanked fans for "coming to the game on short notice" and for donating close to $250 in support of Hurricane Harvey relief efforts through Rebuild Texas.

The War Hawks, who played the game as an exhibition for their unofficial season-opener, shot 43 percent, led by Parker Gettys' nine points.

Both teams ended with 37 rebounds.

Neither team fared particularly well at the free-throw line, where Wayland was 23-of-37 for 62 percent and McMurry 9-of-20 for 45 percent). The War Hawks committed 32 turnovers, compared to 18 for Wayland.

"We have a lot of room for improvement. We didn't shoot very well from the free-throw line and made a few too many turnovers," Harrelson said. "We did create a lot of steals (18) and got back a lot of the turnovers we made."

WBU is next in action at 8 p.m. Monday against Our Lady of the Lake. The game is the back-end of a doubleheader with the No. 23 Flying Queens (1-0). OLLU's women are ranked 13^th while the Saints' men's team is ranked the equivalent of 30^th.

The OLLU men opened their season with two wins – 91-89 and 104-86 – over a Northern New Mexico team that Wayland defeated 94-85 in its season-opener. On Friday, the Saints almost won on the road against NCAA Division I Texas A&M Corpus Christi. OLLU hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left to go ahead, but the Islanders hit a jumper at the buzzer to win, 69-68.  

"It will be a good test for us," said Harrelson.