After rare back-to-back home losses, the Wayland Baptist Pioneers needed to find their way back on the winning track Thursday night against Central Christian. The Tigers made them fight for it to the end, but Wayland pulled out the Sooner Athletic Conference victory in Hutcherson Center, 72-67.
Wayland (15-9, 8-7 SAC) led by just two, 37-35, at halftime but managed to pull away a bit in the second half, at one point scoring nine straight and taking as much as a 15-point lead with 3 minutes to play.
The Tigers (10-13, 3-12) kept clawing, however, ending the game on a 10-0 run to make it closer than it really was. A 3-pointer by Andrew Epps pulled Central Christian to within five with 16 seconds to play. Wayland missed a pair of free throws before the Tigers missed a 3 in the closing seconds.
"Central Christian battled down the stretch and never gave up," WBU coach
Ty Harrelson said. "We had a few turnovers that they capitalized on."
Jack Nobles dumped in 21 points while
CJ Obinwa – who hit five of Wayland's seven 3-pointers to match a career-best – contributed 17 points and nine rebounds to lead the Pioneers.
"Jack was very tough around the basket and dominated the game, and CJ came through tonight on both ends of the court," Harrelson said.
J.J. Culver added 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Harrelson also complimented junior forward
Hunter Henderson.
"Hunter played important minutes in both halves and helped us stretch the lead," said the coach, who thanked the crowd for its support.Â
The Tigers, who got between 8-12 points from six players, hit a dozen of their 33 3-pointers (36 percent) as they outscored the Pioneers (7-of-19) by 15 from distance. Wayland made up for it by shooting 45 percent (24-of-53) overall and by hitting 17-of-28 free throws (61 percent), compared to Central's 37 percent (22-of-60) field shooting and 11-of-17 (65 percent) effort at the foul stripe.
The Pioneers outrebounded the Tigers, 42-33.
Nobles' 21 points were the second-most of the season for the senior, behind only his career-high 33-point game against Hardin-Simmons on Dec. 28. Obinwa's nine boards were one off his season-best.
The win kept Wayland, which defeated CCC on Jan. 18 in McPherson, Kan., 89-80, solidly in fifth place in the conference standings.
"We are playing better down the stretch of the season and that's what we have been focusing on as a team," Harrelson said. "It's going to be a fun run with this group of guys as we work toward the post-season."
The Pioneers return to the Hutch at 3:45 p.m. Saturday to take on Langston (13-12, 5-10), which won at Oklahoma-Panhandle State on Thursday, 77-67. The Lions had dropped their two previous games, both by three points in double-overtime, to Central Christian (90-87) and at No. 9 John Brown (74-77).
Wayland won earlier this season at Langston, 87-62.
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