Box Score BETHANY, Okla. – Just like in the preceding women's game, Southwestern Christian scored the first seven points against Wayland Baptist in Saturday afternoon's men's contest. Unlike the Flying Queens, however, the 15
th-ranked Pioneers were unable to hit free throws, and the Eagles prevailed in the Sooner Athletic Conference battle, 87-73.
"They just beat us," Wayland coach
Ty Harrelson said. "Give them credit. They're very well coached and they played extremely hard. When you go on the road you have to be ready to match that intensity.
"I feel responsible. I didn't have our guys ready to play."
Suiting up for the first time in two weeks and for the first time since moving to No. 15 in the NAIA, Wayland (9-1, 2-1 SAC) was within three points with 3:43 left, but the Eagles (7-4, 3-1) scored the game's last 11 points to pull off the upset.
Again, Harrelson took the blame.
"That was my mistake with bad play calls. I didn't get looks we would have liked to have gotten. I'm going to take the blame for it."
The Pioneers, who shot just 57 percent (17-of-30) from the free-throw line, missed their first four shots of the game and had a turnover as they fell behind 7-0. It didn't take long for Wayland to recover, though, and the visitors took a 21-20 lead after a bucket by Tre Fillmore with 10:35 left in the first half.
That turned out to be Wayland's only lead of the afternoon.
The Pioneers tied it on three occasions after that, the last time at 69 with 6:40 left. That came after Wayland rallied from an 11-point deficit, mostly the result of scoring 10 straight points.
"Out of halftime we got several stops in a row and things were going well. I felt like that was who we are. But we only did it for a few minutes, and that's not going to get it done in our conference on the road," Harrelson said.
The Eagles never let Wayland take the lead, although the Pioneers were within three, 76-73, when SCU started its game-ending 11-0 run.
In the final 3:43, Wayland missed six field goals and four free throws, turned the ball over once, and allowed two offensive rebounds.
J.J. Culver led the Pioneers with 25 points on 9-of-21 shooting, including 4-of-9 3-pointers.
Ruben Lopez tacked on 22 points on a more efficient 6-of-10 effort, including 4-of-5 3s and 6-of-6 foul shots. Tyrone Davis ended with 11 points.
Only six Pioneers scored while 11 got on the board for SCU, and WBU's bench was outscored, 30-5. Wayland was without one of its top scorers in Josh Throns due to an ejection in the previous game.
Shawn Scott was the only Eagle in double figures with 31. SCU hit 22-of-34 free throws (65 percent).
"Shawn Scott played one of the best games I've seen in this league," Harrelson said of Scott, a 6-foot-1 senior guard who made 13-of-16 field goals and 4-of-5 free throws while also racking up nine rebounds, four assists, three blocks and three steals.
Next for Wayland is an exhibition game at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Stephenville against Tarleton State. That will be the Pioneers' last outing until SAC play resumes Jan. 4 in Arkansas against John Brown. Wayland's next home game is Jan. 11 against No. 7 USAO.
"This is just one loss. Overall we played really well this first semester," Harrelson said. "We'll get better. We'll recover from it."
