Box Score
Wayland Baptist battled back from an 11-point deficit, but Southwestern Christian hit a game-winning 3-pointer with 3½ seconds left to knock off the No. 11 Pioneers in Sooner Athletic Conference play Thursday night in Hutcherson Center, 88-87.
"I thought it was a great game. It's just one of those things," Wayland coach
Ty Harrelson said. "The guy hits a 3 from the deep corner.
"It's just one of those things."
Wayland (14-5, 7-4 SAC) went on a 13-1 run to take an 82-80 lead with 2½ minutes left, and the Pioneers were still up by two, 87-85, after
Rokas Mazionis made 1-of-2 free throws with 15 seconds to play.
That left the door cracked for the visiting Eagles (11-9, 5-6), whose prayers were answered when senior guard Michael Williams hit an off-balance 3-pointer from the corner with 3½ seconds to play.
"They made a smart foul and then hit a 3," Harrelson said.
Wayland called timeout to set up a final play, but the Pioneers' long inbound-pass was intercepted by the Eagles' Shawn Scott just past midcourt, and time ran out.
"I don't want to take credit away from Southwestern Christian, but I don't feel like we played very well for a big, big period of that game," Harrelson said
It was the Pioneers' first home loss of the season after eight wins and Wayland's second loss in as many games against Southwestern Christian, which in Bethany on Dec. 16 scored the last 11 points of the game and won, 87-73.
"It's rare for us to lose at home, which is frustrating," Harrelson said.
Both teams shot 52 percent from the field, and Wayland hit one more 3-pointer (10-of-30 vs. 9-of-21) and outscored the Eagles at the free-throw line by 12 (23-of-28, 82 percent, vs. 11-of-17, 65 percent).
"Both teams shot the ball well," Harrelson said.
Trevonta Robertson's 22 points and eight rebounds paced the Pioneers.
Ruben Lopez added 15,
Josh Throns 14 and
Kraig Shields 12. Throns and Lopez fueled WBU's comeback from the 3-point line, where Throns was 4-of-10 and Lopez 3-of-8.
"I thought Trevonta was outstanding," Harrelson said. "Josh and Ruben hit some big 3s to get us back in it, and Trevonta may have had one in there."
SCU ended with five players in double-figures, led by Jahmari Gordon with 17 off the bench, including 5-of-10 3s. The last of his 3s came with just over a minute to play and gave the Eagles a one-point lead.
"That was a big 3 at the top of the key," Harrelson said.
After that,
Tyrone Davis nailed a pair of free throws to put Wayland back up. Both teams missed shots, and after Gordon missed a 3 with 21 seconds to play, Mazionis was fouled and went to the line where he made the second of two free throws, making it a two-point game that led to the dramatic final 15 seconds.
Also in double-digits for SCU were starters Casey Cole with 14, Williams with 11, and Scott and Victor Diaz with 11 each.
The Pioneers, who trailed 42-41 at the half, ended with 19 turnovers, two more than the Eagles, who held a 32-31 rebounding edge.
"A lot of our early mistakes hurt us with the end result," Harrelson said. "Nineteen turnovers is too many, and 88 points is too many to give up. We just made a few bad decisions in the first half."
That said, the coach was pleased with his team's comeback.
"The crowd got behind us. We saw a couple of shots go in that weren't falling earlier; a lot of them were timely. And we got some stops when we needed them.
"We have to work on some help-side defense and some other things. We'll be OK," Harrelson added. "We lost to them the first time through and it ended up OK."
Wayland was scheduled to host St. Gregory's on Saturday, but due to that university's closure the Pioneers pick up a forfeit, non-conference win. (Wayland replaced its first scheduled game with SGU with a non-conference contest.)
WBU is on the road for three contests next week, starting with an exhibition against NCAA Division I UT-Rio Grande Valley (10-11) of the Western Athletic Conference at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Edinburg.
The Pioneers then return to SAC play against two teams receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25, Southwestern Assemblies of God (12-7, 6-5) in Waxahachie on Thursday and Texas Wesleyan (14-6, 8-3) in Fort Worth on Saturday. SAGU fell at No. 15 USAO on Thursday, 83-80, while defending national champion Texas Wesleyan (14-6, 8-3) won at Mid-American Christian, 80-71, for its eighth straight win.
