Tedrick Wolfe put in 30 points and Parrish Hewitt 22 as 16th-ranked Wayland Baptist held off Southwestern Christian in Sooner Athletic Conference play Thursday night in Hutcherson Center, 85-71.
Playing for the first time in 10 days, Wayland (6-1, 2-1 SAC) trailed early on but went on a 10-0 run to take an 18-11 lead midway through the first half. The Pioneers never trailed after that, although the Eagles (3-3, 1-2) made WBU earn the victory in its first conference home game.
Wayland opened an 11-point lead but was up by just five, 32-27, at halftime. The Eagles scored the first four points of the second half to make it a one-point game, but a traditional 3-point play by Jaxon Recer kicked off a 15-0 run, which was capped by a 3-pointer by Josh Servantez and a steal and bucket by Wolfe.
The closest the Eagles got after that was 11 points as Wayland kept the visitors from Bethany, Okla., at the arm's length the rest of the way, despite SCU shooting 56 percent from the field in the second half after a 32 percent performance in the first 20 minutes. The Eagles managed to hit just 11-of-23 free throws (48 percent).
Wolfe's 30 points – which came off the bench in 25 minutes on 11-of-18 field shooting, including a handful of impressive alley-oop slams, and 8-of-11 free throw shooting – represented a season-high. Hewitt hit 5-of-7 3s toward his 22 points, while Recer tacked on 11 points and eight rebounds. Dylan McDougal was held scoreless but managed seven rebounds, while D'Michael Bellfield came off the bench for seven points, five boards and three nifty assists.
The Pioneers return to the Hutch at 3:45 p.m. Saturday to take on Mid-America Christian (3-5, 1-2), which won its first SAC game of the season over Oklahoma-Panhandle State on Thursday, 73-70. That snapped a seven-game losing skid, including league losses to No. 15 Langston, 95-52 and Central Christian (67-64).
