BETHANY, Okla. –
J.J. Culver hit a driving layup with three seconds left to lift No. 24 Wayland Baptist to a key 77-75 Sooner Athletic Conference win over Southwestern Christian here Saturday afternoon.
Culver, the reigning SAC player of the week, finished with 26 points, matching his total from Thursday's 76-75 road win over No. 12 Oklahoma City University when Culver tallied Wayland's final six points.
"We needed someone to step up and J.J. has done that," Wayland coach
Ty Harrelson said. "He essentially made two game-winning shots for us this week. He had another fantastic week. It's pretty impressive that he has that kind of confidence. A lot of guys get nervous and defer to somebody else."
Culver also led the first-place Pioneers (12-4, 7-1 SAC) with eight rebounds and four assists.
Jack Nobles added 14 points and
Josh Throns 11.
Against the Eagles (10-6, 5-3), who had won their last five games, Wayland trailed by nine with 3½ minutes left but outscored the home team 12-1 down the stretch.
The Pioneers got back in it starting with a pair of free throws by
CJ Obinwa, then Throns nailed a pair of 3-pointers on either side of two foul shots by Culver. Throns' last 3 tied it at 75 with just over a minute remaining.
"Obviously both of Josh's 3-pointers were really big," Harrelson said. "Chris had a couple of nice assists late."
From there, Culver blocked a SCU 3-point try, then the Eagles missed a two-point try and Wayland got a deadball rebound with 31 seconds left.
"The guys played great defense down the stretch," Harrelson said. "All five of them did a great job, but the two guards, C.J. and J.J, really turned up the defensive pressure. We forced a couple of turnovers and got a stop when we needed to."
The Pioneers called timeout with nine ticks to go to set up the game-winning play, which amounted to Culver coming off a screen at the top of the key then driving to the basket for the winning points with three seconds showing.
"I told J.J. to go win it, and that's what he did," Harrelson said.
A half-court shot by the Eagles wasn't close as time expired.
Harrelson complimented Culver, Throns, Obinwa,
Chris Doerue and
Jack Nobles for their play in crunch time.
"We pretty much rode those five at the end," the coach said. "They executed our plays and we stopped playing on our heels.
"Jack was a beast today, getting to the free throw line (4-of-6) and grabbing some big boards. And I thought
Spencer Lindsey had a great weekend. They all made plays."
Wayland, which led by as many as five late in the first half but trailed the final 13 minutes of the game until the end, overcame 24 turnovers in part by hitting 64 percent from the field (25-of-39), including 5-of-10 3-pointers with Lindsey going 3-for-3. The Pioneers, after nailing 27-of-30 free throws against OCU on Thursday, were 23-of-35 from the stripe (63 percent).
SCU, which turned it over 19 times, got 24 points from Patrick White, the only Eagle with more than eight. Southwestern Christian finished 43 percent (25-of-58) from the field, 39 percent (16-of-26) 3-pointers, and 65 percent (15-of-23) from the foul line.
"This essentially was a game for first place on the road against a good Southwestern Christian team," Harrelson said. "To get these two road wins is really big for us."
The Pioneers get to play their next three games at home, starting with an 8 p.m. tip Tuesday against Oklahoma-Panhandle State (8-6, 3-5), which defeated No. 12 OCU on Saturday on the road, 90-86.
