Hewitt records triple-double as Pioneers roll in 2nd half over Aggies

In just his third game in a Wayland Baptist basketball uniform, Parrish Hewitt managed to do something very few Pioneers have ever accomplished.

Hewitt recorded a triple-double – finishing with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists – as Wayland eased to a 90-61 Sooner Athletic Conference victory over Oklahoma-Panhandle State on Tuesday evening in Hutcherson Center.

The win in Wayland's first game of the second half of the SAC season avenged a two-point loss to the Aggies in Goodwell, Okla., on Dec. 7.

Hewitt, an athletic 6-foot-3 senior guard from Memphis, Tenn., had seven points, four rebounds and four assists at halftime, when Wayland (9-10, 5-7 SAC) clung to a 35-34 lead over the Aggies (7-10, 4-8). But Hewitt, who became eligible at semester after transferring from Northwestern Oklahoma State, and the rest of the Pioneers went wild in the second half, outscoring OPSU 55-27 to make for the lopsided 39-point win.

Hewitt relied on excellent free-throw shooting, hitting 12-of-13 foul shots, for what is believed to be the first triple-double for a Pioneer in almost 20 years. The last known triple-double came when all-American (and later WBU head coach) Ty Harrelson got 15 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a 72-68 win over Columbia College (Mo.) in the first round of the NAIA National Championships in Kansas City on March 27, 2003.

Hewitt secured the triple-double with just under four minutes to play when he ripped down a defensive rebound and heaved the ball the length of the floor to teammate Javorian Miller for an easy layup.

Three Pioneers – RJ Mason, Jordan Brannon and Thad Udoh – put up 14 points apiece, a number matched by Jaxon Recer in the rebounding department. Recer, who logged eight of his 14 rebounds on offense, also contributed eight points, as did Jibrael Washington who finished with seven boards and was one of three Pioneers (Udoh and Hewitt were the others) with two blocks.

Wayland's well-rounded scoring effort – six players with eight or more points – proved superior to OPSU's single player in double digits: Jalen Thomas with 31. Thomas' teammates combined to score 30 points.

Thomas and the Aggies got off to a fast start, taking an 11-point, 19-8 lead with just over 13 minutes left in the first half. Two quick 3-pointers by Mason and a dunk by Washington got the Pioneers rolling on a 20-6 run over the next seven minutes that more than made up for that deficit and put the Pioneers up by three, 28-25.

The Aggies scored the first points of the second half to take a 36-35 lead, but it was pretty much all Wayland after that. The Pioneers got 3s by Brannon and Mason then four points by Recer for 10 unanswered points that kicked off a 15-2 spurt and put WBU up by a dozen.

It was still a nine-point game at the midway mark of the second half when the Pioneers made another big push, this one a 18-4 run that put Wayland in complete command, 78-55. Brannon, Hewitt, Recer, Udoh, Washington and Mason all contributed points during the game-sealing march.

Wayland eventually grew its lead to 29 points, and that ended as the final margin of victory.

The Pioneers outrebounded the Aggies by a staggering 57-35, and in the second half outscored OPSU 15-2 at the foul line where Hewitt was 9-of-10. Wayland went from shooting 39 percent from the field (13-of-33) in the first half to 55 percent (18-of-33) in the second.

WBU ended with 22 assists – half of those by Hewitt – compared to only six for OPSU.

Just as Wayland avenged a loss to OPSU, the Pioneers will be trying to prevent that from happening when they take the court Thursday in Oklahoma City against Mid-America Christian. WBU knocked off MACU, then ranked No. 21 in the NAIA, on Nov. 20 in the Hutch, 57-54. After a slump when they lost seven of eight, the Evangels (11-8, 4-7) have won their last two over SAC bottom dwellers Central Christian (90-78) and Langston (73-65).