Three weeks after pulling out an eight-point win over University of the Southwest in Hobbs, N.M., Wayland Baptist blew out the Mustangs by 31 Tuesday night in Hutcherson Center where the third-ranked Pioneers rolled to a 71-40 win.
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J.J. Culver, the NAIA's top scorer, put in 17 points,
Jack Nobles finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, and
Jordan Brannon added 11 points to lead Wayland (7-1) in the non-conference contest. Six-foot-11
Deng Bol Yol finished with seven blocks to go with his seven points.
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Wayland – which was named National Association of Basketball Coaches NAIA Team of the Week after opening conference with two road wins over the weekend – never trailed in the game after scoring the game's first 15 points, with Nobles providing seven of those. The Mustangs (4-6), meanwhile, missed their first 13 field goals before finally getting on the board some nine minutes after the opening tip.
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USW closed to within seven, 25-18, but that's as close as the Mustangs came. Wayland was up 10 at halftime, 32-22, and led by 13 when the Pioneers scored 13 unanswered points to quickly double their lead to 26, 55-29. That run was started by a 3-pointer by
CJ Obinwa then later saw Culver hit a pair of 3s and Brannon one as WBU drilled bombs on three consecutive possessions.
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The Pioneers' largest lead was the final 31-point margin.
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Besides his game-high 17 points, Culver, who hit 4-of-7 3s, posted six rebounds, five assists and four steals.
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Wayland was 9-of-17 (53 percent) from 3-point range, where the Mustangs managed to hit just 10 percent (2-of-20). USW, which shot 25 percent (15-of-60) overall from the field, saw only one player finish with more than eight points, Thurbil Bile with 13.
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The Pioneers are now 11-1 all-time against Southwest.
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Wayland will face another team from the Land of Enchantment, Eastern New Mexico (0-3), in its next outing, an exhibition in Portales at 8 p.m. CST Dec. 7. The Pioneers' next home game comes three days later on Dec. 10 at 8 p.m. against Southwestern Adventist.
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