John Brown overtakes No. 21 Pioneers

SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. – Playing their first official game in almost three weeks, the 21^st-ranked Wayland Baptist Pioneers came out of their holiday break and suffered an 86-64 road loss to John Brown University in Sooner Athletic Conference play Thursday night.

"John Brown looked great tonight," Wayland coach Ty Harrelson said. "They played tough, (played) good defense. It's tough to come here and win."

The Pioneers (9-3, 2-2 SAC) were on their way to doing just that, holding a comfortable 11-point lead in the first half.

"We started really well. Everyone was playing together," Harrelson said.

Then things went awry as John Brown got things rolling.

The Golden Eagles (9-4, 2-1) scored 15 straight points to kick off a 21-5 half-ending run that gave John Brown a lead it never relinquished.

"You're not going to win many games on the road when you give up runs like that," Harrelson said. "And it carried over to the second half."

Trailing 40-35 at halftime, Wayland pulled to within 46-43 before another big JBU push, this one 13 unanswered. That made it 59-43 as the Pioneers went more than six minutes without scoring.

The visiting Pioneers closed to within 10, 66-56, but the Golden Eagles once again produced a big run, this one 12-2, to put the game out of Wayland's reach for good.

"That's something we need to get better at. If we get down in a game, we need to be able to come back and win," Harrelson said. "Our coaching staff's job is to make guys believe we can come back and win. We need to find a way to get that done. We'll get better at that as the season goes on."

The Pioneers got 16 points each from seniors Ruben Lopez and Samuel Kalwanyi, who was making his Wayland debut after transferring last season then undergoing knee surgery just before this season started. The 6-foot-7 Kalwanyi finished 5-of-9 from the field and 6-of-9 from the free-throw line while pulling down nine rebounds in 31 minutes.

"We got some really good minutes out of Sammy. I'm happy for him," Harrelson said. "He did a good job considering he's not in 100 percent condition."

Also debuting for Wayland was 6-8 junior Kraig Shields, a transfer from St. Edward's. Shields finished with five points on 2-of-3 shooting.

J.J. Culver added nine points for Wayland, which shot 42 percent (21-of-50) from the field, including 33 percent (5-of-15) from 3-point territory. John Brown hit 48 percent (29-of-61) from the floor, including 11-of-28 (39 percent) from long range. The Golden Eagles missed just one of 18 free throws (94 percent); Wayland made 17-of-24 foul shots (71 percent).

"John Brown shot the ball really well," Harrelson said.

JBU outrebounded Wayland 35-26, and the Pioneers had 19 turnovers, four more than the Golden Eagles, who put five players in double figures, led by Jake Caudle with 19.

After starting the season 9-1, Wayland has dropped its last two games, not counting an exhibition loss to Tarleton State. The Pioneers will try to right the ship at 3 p.m. Saturday in Muskogee, Okla., against Bacone (3-10, 0-4), which lost at home to Oklahoma Panhandle State on Thursday, 84-79.

"The good thing is we get to play again Saturday," Harrelson said. "You always want to get a split on the road, so we need to regain the focus we had early in the season.

"We have to do a lot of work to play in the top of the conference because this conference is really good," the coach added. "That showed again today."