DALLAS –
Josh Servantez scored 21 points and was one of five players in double figures, and Wayland Baptist took control down the stretch as the 12
th-ranked Pioneers remained unbeaten and won their Sooner Athletic Conference opener over University of North Texas-Dallas here Thursday night, 97-85.
Wayland (4-0, 1-0 SAC) twice trailed the Trailblazers (2-3, 0-1) by 11 in the first half but quickly came back, the second time to narrow the gap to four just before halftime.
The Pioneers tied it on a couple of occasions then took their first lead since early on with a bucket at the 14:51 mark. After that, the lead changes hands nine times and was tied on six occasions until Wayland took the lead for good on back-to-back 3-pointers by Servantez with just under 10 minutes to play.
Servantez hit another 3 and turned it into a four-point play to give Wayland a 12-point, 87-75 lead with six minutes to play. The Pioneers led by as many as 14 before winning by a dozen.
Servantez came off the bench to score 15 of his 21 points in the second half. He finished 5-of-5 from long range (WBU was 6-of-11 from distance) and 7-of-7 from the field. Servantez's 21 points were one off his career-high established last season against Southwestern Christian when he hit a personal-best six 3s.
BJ Simmons added 18 points and
RJ Mason 15, and both players were 5-of-5 from the free-throw line where Wayland hit 25-of-31 (81 percent).
Parrish Hewitt and
D'Michael Bellfield ended with 12 points each, while
Dylan McDougal pulled down a game-high nine rebounds. Mason ended with six assists.
The Trailblazers got 20 points off the bench from Vernon Johnson, 18 from Tariq Aman, 16 from Jules Moore and 13 from Demaryon Thornton.
Wayland outrebounded UNT-Dallas 37-29, with the Pioneers grabbing 12 offensive boards compared to seven for the Trailblazers.
The Pioneers return to action at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in Waxahachie against Southwestern Assemblies of God (5-1, 1-0), which routed Oklahoma-Panhandle State on Thursday, 93-65.
