McPHERSON, Kan. – Wayland Baptist rallied to force overtime then made off with a 79-75 victory over Central Christian as the Pioneers knocked off the Sooner Athletic Conference's first-place team here Thursday night.
Wayland (5-3, 4-2 SAC) got 30 points from
Devin Avent and 20 from
Chinedu Okonkwo, with
Jordan Brannon tacking on 11. Okonkwo ended with a team-best nine rebounds while
Jibrael Washington had eight boards and four blocks.
The Pioneers led by 12, 24-12, midway through the first half, but the Tigers managed to tie it up at 36 by halftime.
Wayland then trailed most of the second half, by as many as seven points, 68-61 with 5:12 to go. The Pioneers were down by four, 71-67, with 1:25 to play, but Brannon hit a jumper and, after a miss by the Tigers, Okonkwo tied it up with a bucket with 15 seconds left.
After the Tigers missed a 3-pointer at the regulation buzzer, Wayland got ready for its third overtime in its last five games.
The Pioneers never trailed in the extra five minutes after a bucket by Okonkwo a minute in. After the Tigers knotted it, Okonkwo hit a foul shot with 2:43 showing to put the Pioneers up for good.
Both teams went cold, and the next points were a bucket by Avent with 23 ticks left that made it a 3-point game. Wayland opted to foul and, with 13 seconds showing, the Tigers hit both free throws to cut it to one.
Avent was fouled and came through by hitting both foul shots with seven seconds left. After a series of timeouts, the Tigers' Isaiah Rivera missed a would-be tying 3-pointer.
Tre Fillmore grabbed the rebound and tacked on a free throw in the final second for the final four-point spread.
The Pioneers shot 52 percent (27-of-52) from the floor, with Okonkwo going 7-of-10, but struggled from the foul stripe (20-of-35, 57 percent). WBU hit 5-of-16 3-pointers (31 percent), compared to the Tigers' 9-of-32 (28 percent).
Central Christian got 23 points from Darrell Bryant, 19 from Bryant and 14 from Byron Staten.
Wayland returns to play at 4 p.m. Saturday at winless Langston (0-5, 0-5), which fell Thursday to Oklahoma-Panhandle State, 98-62.
