Pioneers dominate glass, top Celts, 76-66

Trevonta Robertson put in 19 points and Wayland Baptist dominated the glass as the 20^th-ranked Pioneers recorded a 76-66 win over the University of St. Thomas on Tuesday night in the final game of the McDonald's Classic.
 
The win in Hutcherson Center gave Wayland a 2-0 record at the season-opening Classic, as the Pioneers defeated Arlington Baptist on Monday, 70-49. In Tuesday's first game, Arlington Baptist fell to Oklahoma-Panhandle State, 87-65, while on Monday OPSU lost to St. Thomas, 91-84, making WBU champion of the first McDonald's Classic.
 
"I'm proud of our guys for starting the season 2-0," Wayland coach Ty Harrelson said.
 
Against St. Thomas (1-1), a member of the NAIA's Red River Athletic Conference from Houston, Wayland crushed the Celts in the rebounding department, 45-24. The Pioneers allowed the visitors just four offensive rebounds.
 
"We try to limit (opponents) to one-shot-and-done. Our guys really attacked the ball and the glass. Some of that is just being tough, and I thought we were tonight," Harrelson said.
 
Guard J.J. Culver led the way with eight boards to go with his 14 points, while Robertson had seven rebounds. Rokas Mazionis, who finished with 10 points, Jack Nobles, who had nine points, and Chris Doerue all had five rebounds apiece.
 
Wayland led as many as 14, 46-32, three minutes into the second half before St. Thomas went on a 16-2 run to tie it at 48-all.
 
"The first 10 minutes of the second half we had several bad turnovers," Harrelson said. "If we want to get better we need to reduce those, which we did. I think we only had one or two in the last 10 minutes of the game."
 
With the game tied for the first time since the opening tip, the Pioneers responded with six straight points – a one-on-one drive by Robertson followed by two buckets by Nobles – and Wayland never allowed St. Thomas to gain the upper hand.
 
"From that point forward Trevonta kind of took over the game. He made some huge plays," Harrelson said.
 
A 3-pointer by Culver made it an 8-point spread, 66-58, with just under five to go, then Wayland closed it out at the free-throw line by hitting six in the final two minutes.
 
The Pioneers regained their foul shot touch just in time. After missing only one of 10 at the charity stripe in the first half, Wayland slumped after intermission and connected on just 5-of-12. For the game, the Pioneers shot 64 percent (14-of-22).
 
Robertson went 7-of-10 from the field, including 4-of-6 3-pointers. Wayland made 8-of-18 3s as a team (44 percent), and shot 53 percent overall from the field (27-of-51).
 
St. Thomas, which committed just seven turnovers compared to WBU's 20, was led by Nathan Thormaehlen's 21 points. Kennard Robinson added 14, Orowo Eleyae 12 and Michael Alfred 11.
 
"Like last night I thought we played really hard. It started with our defense," Harrelson said.
 
The Pioneers, who play seven of their first nine games at home, have 11 days off before their next game Nov. 10 in the Hutch against Huston-Tillotson. That game originally was scheduled for Nov. 9.
 
"We'll watch a lot of film and start working on the things we need to get better at in preparation for Huston-Tillotson," Harrelson said.