OKLAHOMA CITY – Wayland Baptist threw a major score in Mid-America Christian, but the second-ranked, Sooner Athletic Conference-leading Evangels managed to hold off the Pioneers for an 83-81 victory here Saturday afternoon.
Wayland (14-9, 7-7 SAC) trailed by 14 early in the second half and, after pulling to within one, was down 80-70 with just over three minutes remaining. But the Pioneers, riding the momentum from Thursday's impressive 87-70 road win over USAO, scored seven straight points to make it a one-possession game with just under a minute to play.
MACU's Dominick Ford hit two free throws, which Wayland's
J.J. Culver got back with two of his own with 15 ticks left. Pioneer
Payton Havens then stole the inbounds pass, allowing Culver to launch a game-tying 3-pointer. It missed, but
Bonny Udoh picked up the rebound and his putback made it a one-point game.
After a timeout, the Pioneers almost came up with a steal, but the ball was kicked and MACU got it back. The Evangels (23-1, 13-1) scrambled to inbound the ball again. After they did, almost all the time clicked off the clock before Udoh was whistled for a foul. MACU's Terrance Jones made the first free throw before intentionally missing the second. Wayland grabbed the rebound but time quickly expired.
Culver led all scorers with 33 points, hitting just 1-of-8 3-pointers but draining 16-of-17 free throws. As a team, Wayland hit just 4-of-21 3s (19 percent) but 33-of-36 foul shots (92 percent).
Udoh, a freshman, added a season-high 16 points on 6-of-7 field goal and 4-of-5 free-throw shooting. He also had a season-high eight rebounds.
Jack Nobles tacked on 11 points and
Tre Fillmore 10.
MACU, which got 19 points from D'Von Moore, 18 from Ashford Golden and 16 from Jones, finished 13-of-29 (45 percent) from beyond the arc and 26-of-52 (50 percent) from the field overall. The Evangels made 18-of-29 free throws.
Wayland, which held a 39-30 edge on the boards, played MACU much closer than the 15-point, 73-58 loss on Jan. 9 in Plainview.
Wayland returns home to host Central Christian (10-12, 3-11) at 7:45 p.m. Thursday and Langston (12-12, 4-10) at 3:45 p.m. Saturday. Central defeated Langston on the road Saturday, 90-87.
The Pioneers defeated Central, 89-80, and Langston, 87-62, when they faced off in mid-January.
