KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Wayland Baptist jumped out to a 16-point first-half lead but couldn't hold off determined Arizona Christian as the No. 8 Pioneers were upset in the first round of the NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championships on Wednesday night at Municipal Auditorium, 81-73.
"It's pretty disappointing," Wayland coach
Ty Harrelson said. "Arizona Christian played well; credit those guys. They shot the ball really well (56 percent) and made their free throws (15-of-18, compared to Wayland's 9-of-17). That was the difference in the game.
"Our guys have nothing to be embarrassed about. It's not like we came up here and didn't play hard or didn't play together," Harrelson added. "We just didn't put the ball in the hoop, and normally we do that. Sometimes it's your day and sometimes it's not.
"I hate that today wasn't our day. But it's basketball…it's basketball."
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Coming off a loss in the first round of the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament, Wayland (24-8) had 22 days off before taking on Arizona Christian (also 24-8). The Pioneers were anything but rusty, though, as WBU – seeded second in its quadrant of the 32-team tournament – came out hitting on all cylinders to take a 31-16 lead midway through the first half.
"We came out made shots," Harrelson said. "We went inside, and our guards were making shots."
But the Firestorm, ranked the equivalent of 28
th in the NAIA and seeded seventh, scored the final 11 points of the first half – including three straight 3-pointers – to take a 41-40 lead into the locker room.
"We got up by 16 really quick and got a little bit excited, and we settled for a couple of outside jump shots in the last 10 minutes of the half and didn't make them. Plus we went in transition a couple of times when we were trying to go big. And we also missed a wide-open lay-up."
The Firestorm opened the second half with another 3, their fourth in a row. Wayland retook the lead just once after that, 47-46.
The Pioneers were down by eight, 63-55, but scored seven unanswered to pull to within one with just over five minutes to play. Arizona Christian responded by nailing a 3 that kicked off a 9-1 run that mostly sealed Wayland's fate.
Down 11 with 30 seconds left, Wayland put forth one final burst when
Josh Throns nailed a 3-pointer and
Dominic Cervantez scored to cut it to six with 20 ticks to go, but ACU hit two free throws two seconds later to end the scoring.
Averaging just over 11 3s going into the game to ranked second in the NAIA, ACU wound up hitting 10-of-24 bombs (42 percent), with Emilio Acedo making half of those (5-of-8) and ending with 17 points.
The Firestorm got 23 points and 11 rebounds from Callum Lawson, his 16
th double-double of the season, while Shane Carney and Terence Shelby chipped in 10 points apiece. Carney and Lawson combined to go 11-of-13 from the free-throw line, where ACU surpassed its No. 3 NAIA ranking of 78 percent by hitting 83 percent.
Wayland was led in scoring by senior
Trevonta Robertson's 18 points. Junior
Jack Nobles produced his team-best third double-double of the season with 14 points and a dozen boards. Junior
J.J. Culver finished with 10 points and six steals, while junior
CJ Obinwa and senior
Spencer Lindsey tacked on eight points each.
The Pioneers, credited with seven assists, committed nine turnovers compared to ACU's 20, and Wayland won the battle of the boards, 41-37.
The final game of the first of two days of first-round games – which saw higher seeds win just three of eight contests – was the first-ever meeting between Wayland and ACU, which advances to the round of 16 to take on No. 24 Loyola, La. (22-10), which surprised ninth-ranked Missouri Baptist, 68-67.
"I hate that it ends that way, but we had a fantastic season: 24 wins, winning the regular-season for the first time in school history in a really tough conference. That's something to be proud of," said Harrelson, who thanks his staff and the team's fans for their support all season.
Harrelson repeated what assistant coach
Landon Hughey told the players after the game.
"Our culture is built on what happens after this, seeing them develop from young men into grown men. We want them to be great husbands and fathers, and I'm sure they will be.
"This is disappointing…it hurts tonight. But it was a great run."
