Resiliency pays dividends for Pioneers with win over No. 21 MACU

It wasn't Wayland Baptist's best-played game, but in terms of guts and resiliency it may have been the Pioneers' best effort of the season.
 
It all came together for a rousing 57-54 Wayland victory over the 21^st-ranked Mid-America Christian Evangels in Sooner Athletic Conference play Saturday afternoon in Hutcherson Center.
 
"I'm proud of our guys' effort and resilience. Down 10 at the half, not able to get anything to go offensively, (but) we never gave up," Wayland coach Clint Galyean said.
 
Coming off a 71-66 win over Southwestern Christian in their conference-opener Thursday, the Pioneers (5-2, 2-0 SAC) trailed by a dozen early in the second half. They cut it to five only to have MACU (6-3, 0-2) go back up by 11. Wayland made another push and trimmed the deficit to four, and this time they kept the Evangels in their sights.
 
A 3-pointer by Jordan Brannon with just over three minutes left made it a one-point game, then a bucket by Jaxon Recer gave Wayland its first lead since the 15-minute mark in the first half.
 
MACU hit a layup to regain the upper hand, then after both teams missed 3-point shots, WBU's R.J. Mason was good on a pair of free throws with 36 seconds left that put the Pioneers up for good.
 
Wayland shot-block specialist Jibrael Washington did his thing on an attempt under the basket, and Recer rebounded. That led to a MACU foul and Mason – with hardly a sound in the Hutch – making two more free throws for a three-point lead with 17 ticks left.
 
Instead of taking a 3, MACU instead threw the ball down load where Carlos Slaughter missed a shot. He got his own rebound but missed again, and this time Recer rebounded for Wayland to end it.
 
"We have a lot of respect for Coach (Josh) Gamblin and MACU. They are No. 21 in the country for a reason," Galyean said.
 
The Pioneer coach said "winning the turnover and rebound battle was the difference for us."
 
Wayland suffered just 10 turnovers compared to 15 for MACU, and the Pioneers prevailed on the boards, 42-36. That included 16 offensive boards for Wayland, with Washington pulling down five of those, while the Evangels came up with just six rebounds on the offensive end.
 
Both teams struggled with 3-point shooting, with Wayland hitting 6-of-27 (22 percent) and MACU 6-of-25 (24 percent). The Pioneers did hit 9-of-11 free throws, with Mason putting in 5-of-7 and Washington 4-of-4. The Evangels, who got 21 points from Isaiah Hammons and 14 from Caleb Riggs, shot only four foul shots, hitting them all.
 
Wayland now has almost two weeks off before its next game Dec. 2 at Langston.
 
"Now we get some time off to get healthy and to keep improving and building off these two huge wins to start off SAC play," Galyean said.