WAXAHACHIE – Wayland Baptist let a 10-point lead slip away as No. 12 Southwestern Assemblies of God hit four consecutive 3-pointers and WBU missed one at the buzzer, allowing the Lions to squeak out a 67-65 win in Sooner Athletic Conference play here Saturday afternoon.
Wayland (8-10, 4-7 SAC) led most of the game, including its largest lead at 63-53 following a 12-2 Pioneer run with 4½ minutes left. But the Lions (13-3, 10-1) proceeded to end the game on a 14-2 spurt, getting three 3-pointers from Isaiah Boling and another from Nathan Bailey.
The Pioneers' last points came on a free throw with 2½ minutes to play and another with a minute to play. SAGU's Boling nailed his fifth 3-pointer of the game shortly after that, then after Wayland misfired on a 3, Boling connected for his sixth bomb with 14 seconds to play, giving the Lions their first lead since the 12:27 mark of the second half.
After a timeout, the Pioneers had one last chance.
RJ Mason drove to the basket and lost control of the ball, which ended up in the hands of
Gage Hulse on the left wing. Hulse got a good look at the bucket, but couldn't knock down the game-winning 3 as time expired.
In the hard-to-swallow but encouraging loss,
Parrish Hewitt, in his second game for WBU, again led the Pioneers with 22 points, followed by Mason with 17.
Jordan Brannon and
Jaxon Recer added six apiece, with Recer pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds.
Jibrael Washington got seven caroms and Mason six.
Boling wound up with 23 points, hitting 6-of-9 3s, to lead four Lions in double figures. As a team SAGU hit 9-of-23 3s, compared to 8-of-19 for Wayland. With Hewitt hitting 6-of-6 and Mason 5-of-6, the Pioneers knocked down 15-of-19 free throws (79 percent) vs. SAGU's 8-of-13 (62 percent).
Wayland turned it over 13 times, four fewer than SAGU.
The game marked the end of the first half of SAC play. The Pioneers open the second half Tuesday when they host Oklahoma-Panhandle State (7-9, 4-7) at 8 p.m. in Hutcherson Center. WBU will be looking to avenge a 73-71 loss to the Aggies on Dec. 7 in Goodwell. OPSU fell to SAC newcomer North Texas-Dallas on Saturday, 73-65. The Pioneers defeated UNT-Dallas on Thursday, 66-52.
