Box Score
Oklahoma City made one half-court short and came within milliseconds of making another in its Sooner Athletic Conference contest against the Wayland Baptist Pioneers Saturday afternoon in Hutcherson Center.
The one that counted gave the 15
th-ranked Stars a two-point lead just before halftime. The one that didn't helped No. 20 Wayland come away with a thrilling 80-78 victory over league-leading OCU.
"That was just a fantastic college basketball game," Wayland coach
Ty Harrelson said.
After OCU's Jonathan Ellis made two free throws to tie it at 78 with 32 seconds left, Wayland held for the last shot.
Tyrone Davis dribbled out front to under 10 seconds before heading to the basket. He lost control on the left wing in front of the Pioneers' bench, but senior
Ruben Lopez was there to recover it near the 3-point line and draw a shooting foul.
With 2.9 seconds showing, the senior from El Paso with a 91 percent season free throw percentage – after a knowing wink to his bench – calmly drained both foul shots to put Wayland up two.
Following a timeout, OCU made a long inbounds pass to near midcourt where Ridell Camidge launched a shot that appeared to be a miracle game-winner. However, just before Camidge let go of the shot, teammate Jonathan Ellis called a timeout, and the bucket didn't count.
On the next inbounds pass from near midcourt, WBU's Davis knocked out of bounds with one second left. OCU's final attempt was taken by the Stars' Lou Dunbar, who made the midcourt shot just before halftime. But Dunbar's off-balance, 30-footer as time expired was well off the mark, and the Pioneers logged a second straight much-needed home victory.
"Sometimes things just go your way," Harrelson said of the timeout that prevented OCU's last-second shot from counting. "I thought we played a fantastic game. The guys showed a lot of guts to come back and get the win."
Wayland's last five SAC games have come down to the wire, decided by a total of 11 points. The Pioneers dropped the first three of those five, but have won the last two.
They won Saturday in large part because of Lopez's clutch play. He ended with a team-high 16 points, including 8-of-8 free throws, and five assists. Harrelson called Lopez an "awesome player" who once again came through in the clutch.
"He uses the shot fake to draw the foul and then pretty much ices the game," Harrelson said. "He's a very heady player."
Davis ended with 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting while Throns and Robertson got a dozen points apiece and
Rokas Mazionis nine. Throns finished with a team-high nine rebounds.
"Tyrone and Trevonta really stepped up," Harrelson said. "Tyrone was really good at the start. He is a senior and a staple of our defense."
Lopez and Throns combined for 3-pointers as Wayland scored the game's first eight points. Not long after that, the Pioneers scored 12 unanswered – highlighted by a break-away dunk by Robertson – to take a 27-11 lead midway through the first period.
From there OCU immediately charged back, using a 12-1 run to get within five, 28-23. Then, Dunbar's buzzer-beating shot from beyond midcourt gave the Stars their first lead of the game at the break, 37-35.
The Stars held onto the lead for the first five minutes of the second half before Wayland regained the upper-hand. Neither team led by more than five until the Stars went up six, 74-68, with just under five minutes to play.
The Pioneers went on an 8-0 run and led 78-76 on a bucket by Davis with 1:25 showing. OCU missed a 3-pointer but Wayland turned it over with 45 seconds left. Thirteen seconds later a foul put OCU's Ellis at the line where he made two free throws to tie it, leading up to the dramatic finish.
OCU got 21 points and 10 rebounds from Samuel Williams, 17 points from Camidge, and 13 from Ellis.
Wayland shot 52 percent (27-of-52) from the field, including 7-of-19 3s (37 percent), and 73 percent (19-of-26) from the foul line. The Stars shot 42 percent overall (25-of-60), 29 percent from long range (7-of-24), and 75 percent (21-of-28) from the foul stripe.
With five regular-season games remaining, Wayland (17-7, 9-6) stands in fifth place in the conference, just 1½ games out of first place but also 1½ games out of eighth in a tightly-bunched league.
The Pioneers play their next three on the road, starting Monday night in Goodwell against Oklahoma-Panhandle State (11-14, 4-11), a 103-77 loser to Central Christian on Saturday. Wayland defeated OPSU by 20, 94-74, when they met a month ago in Plainview.
"We played really well against them here," Harrelson said. "They've had some injuries here lately, but if everyone's healthy they're really tough."
Wayland ends the week at Mid-America Christian (14-10, 8-8) and No. 7 USAO (19-6, 10-6), teams the Pioneers soundly defeated previously by 20 and 22 points, respectively. WBU wraps up the regular-season at home the following week against Bacone and John Brown.
Â
