Wayland Baptist sprinted to a 25-point lead then held off hard-charging Mid-America Christian down the stretch as the 16th-ranked Pioneers prevailed in a heated Sooner Athletic Conference contest Saturday in Hutcherson Center, 78-68.
Wayland (7-1, 3-1 SAC) scored the game's first nine points on the way to taking a 28-6 lead. MACU (3-6, 1-3).didn't reach double-digit points until 7½ minutes remained in the first half, and the Pioneers were up 35-10 with just over five minutes to go before halftime
WBU was comfortably in command with 13 minutes to play, up by 19, 56-37, when MACU went on an 11-2 run to cut it to 10. The Pioneers stemmed the tide until the Evangels made it a six-point game, 64-58, with just over six minutes to play. MACU actually pulled to within six on three occasions, but each time Wayland stemmed the tide.
The Pioneers closed out the win thanks to key contributions from several substitutes as WBU head coach Clint Galyean turned to his bench in the wake of some on-court confrontations with the Evangels.
Junior D'Michael Bellfield led the Pioneers with a season-high 20 points – on 7-of-9 shooting – and 10 rebounds for his first double-double at Wayland. Josh Servantez also came off the bench for his dozen points. Also turning in key minutes in the closing minutes were sophomore Joshua Tucker and Pioneer veterans Jaxon Recer and Dylan McDougal.
Tedrick Wolfe scored 14 points in 14 minutes, while Parrish Hewitt got 12 points and eight rebounds. BJ Simmons added eight points.
MACU was led by Tarrence Gaines with 15 points and 14 rebounds, while DeRaun Clark got 14 points. Eylan Goodwyn and Conner Calavan added 11 each.
For the third time in their last four games, the Pioneers committed just six turnovers compared to 17 for the Evangels. That helped Wayland overcome a sub-par shooting performance (4-of-17 3-pointers for 24 percent; 22-of-39 free throws for 57 percent). MACU hit 8-of-27 3s (30 percent) and 20-of-30 foul shots (67 percent).
The Pioneers won't be back in the Hutch until Jan. 5 as WBU plays its next five games on the road, the first coming next Saturday in Kansas against Central Christian (3-6, 1-3). WBU then gets No. 15 Langston on Dec. 12 and Oklahoma-Panhandle State Dec. 15 before non-conference games against No. 20 LSU-Shreveport in Fort Worth on Dec. 19 and University of the Southwest Dec. 30.
Â
