No. 18 Pioneers use strong finish to close out Saints

This time they worked their magic at the end of the game instead of the beginning, but it proved just as effective as No. 18 Wayland Baptist pounded out a 94-81 victory over Our Lady of the Lake University on Saturday evening in Hutcherson Center.

After opening their first two games of the season with dominant play right after the opening tip, the unbeaten Pioneers (3-0) waited until the end this time. Leading by just four with 4:25 to play, Wayland closed it out by going on a 13-2 run and securing a 13-point win over the Saints (2-2).

Wayland trailed by as many as six points early and was down 37-36 at halftime. The Pioneers were still behind by one, 71-70, with seven minutes to play, but a bucket right after that by Tedrick Wolfe put WBU up for good.

Wayland's win-securing push got started with four points by BJ Simmons. Tedrick Wolfe added a couple of buckets – including a dunk with an assist by Parish Hewitt, who capped the march – and a 58-point second half – with a pair of free throws.

RJ Mason exploded for a season-high 24 points – half of those on 3-pointers – while Simmons and Wolfe added 17 each and Dylan McDougal 12 to fuel the Pioneers on offense. Hewitt, a day after coming up an assist shy of a triple-double, pulled down nine rebounds to go with seven points.

Wayland won despite being outrebounded by 10, 39-29, with the Saints getting a dozen offensive boards compared to just five for the Pioneers. OLLU did turn it over 22 times, eight more than WBU.

WBU missed just four of 28 free throws (86 percent), with Simmons (8-for-8) and Mason (6-for-6) leading the way.

It was the fourth straight road game against a Sooner Athletic Conference team for the Saints, who also lost to SAGU (74-71) while defeating Texas Wesleyan (119-117 in four overtimes) and Oklahoma-Panhandle State (112-94).  

The Pioneers have one more outing – an exhibition at 5:30 p.m. Monday at West Texas A&M in Canyon – prior to opening Sooner Athletic Conference play Thursday night at University of North Texas-Dallas. The WT Buffaloes (0-2) opened their season last weekend in Florida with a 78-62 loss to top-ranked Northwest Missouri State and a 92-90 setback to Florida Southern.