Box Score
Ruben Lopez and
Russell Harrison scored 23 points each, and Wayland Baptist held off St. Gregory's for a 92-87 Sooner Athletic Conference victory Saturday afternoon in Hutcherson Center.
Wayland (16-10, 8-6 SAC) saw a 13-point lead early in the second half reduced to three on three occasions late in the game. Each time the Pioneers responded and held off the tough-to-shake Cavaliers (9-12, 5-9).
"Credit St. Greg's for not giving up, but I didn't feel like our players ever panicked or lost control of the game," Wayland coach
Ty Harrelson said.
The last time St. Greg's pulled to within three was 88-85 with 46 seconds left. Harrison came up big by driving into the lane and as the shot clock was winding down and hitting a free-throw line jumper that made it a five-point game with 20 ticks to go. Then, after Jordan Rutherford missed a 3-pointer for St. Greg's, Lopez drilled two free throws for Wayland to seal it.
"When we needed to execute we did," Harrelson said.
Lopez finished 10-of-10 from the free-throw line as the junior went for a career-high 23. He was 5-of-6 from the field, including 3-of-4 from long range. Harrison, a freshman, missed his season-best by two.
Maurice Redmond wound up with 16 points and
Austin Mansour 12 for Wayland, which shot 61 percent from the floor (30-of-49), 47 percent from 3-point range (9-of-19), and 85 percent (23-of-27) from the foul stripe.
"I felt like we really executed our offense well," Harrelson said. "We took good shots today, and they fell for us. We also hit free throws, which is important.
"Our freshmen, Russell and Austin, scoring 35 points is really good, and both shot a high percentage."
Meanwhile, St. Gregory's, which got 31 points from Jordan Rutherford and 29 from Rodney Smith, shot a respectable 49 percent from the field, matching Wayland's nine 3-pointers, and 22-of-26 from the stripe.
"It was just a very good shooting game by both teams," Harrelson said. "Rutherford and Smith both played great games. They made some really tough shots over hands. I don't feel like we played bad defense. We made them make tough shots, and they did.
"I thought the key to the win was doing a great job on the boards. We outrebounded them by 16."
Wayland finished with 34 rebounds compared to just 18 for SGU. The Pioneers were hurt by 21 turnovers, nine more than the Cavaliers.
"Usually when you hit 61 percent you win by a little more," Harrelson said. "Twenty-one turnover didn't help."
The Pioneers finished with 20 assists, including five apiece from Redmond, Lopez and
Julian Pesava.
"When our guards are sharing the ball like that I feel like it's really good team basketball on offense," Harrelson said.
The Pioneers scored the game's first 10 points before the Cavaliers got on track. Wayland's largest lead of the game was 14, 43-29, with just over three minutes left before halftime.
The first time St. Greg's cut it to three in the second half, 73-70 with 8:00 to play, Harrison and Redmond hit back-to-back 3s for Wayland as part of an 8-0 run. But the Cavs came right back with a 10-2 run to make it 83-80 with 2:47 to play.
Lopez hit two free throws and Harrison one to prevent SGU from getting any closer prior to Harrison's clutch jumper with 20 seconds left.
Wayland now hits the road for games next week against two ranked opponents, starting with No. 21 Southwestern Assemblies of God (18-7, 8-5) in Waxahachie on Thursday night then ninth-ranked Texas Wesleyan (19-5, 9-4) in Fort Worth on Saturday afternoon. The Pioneers split with the Lions and Rams at home, falling to SAGU, 66-60, but taking down Wesleyan, 79-77.
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