Red-hot Pioneers win big, lock down No. 4 seed

The regular-season may be finished, but the Wayland Baptist Pioneers appear to be just getting started.

Dylan McDougal scored 15 points and RJ Mason and Jordan Brannon 13 apiece to lead Wayland to a 68-42 victory over North Texas-Dallas on Saturday afternoon in Hutcherson Center. The win – WBU's ninth in 11 games – locked up the No. 4 seed and a bye in the first round of next week's Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament.

Wayland (17-12, 13-9 SAC) next plays at 8 p.m. Thursday at home in a quarterfinal contest against an opponent to be determined. Pairings for the SAC Tournament will be announced later this weekend.

The Pioneers are one of the conference's hottest teams, and they did nothing Saturday to lose their momentum. While Wayland's offense took some time to get going, the Pioneers' defense was impressive throughout as they gave up a season-low 42 points during league play.

The Trailblazers (12-17, 8-14) – who went scoreless for the game's first eight minutes as they started the game 0-for-11 with six turnovers – were held to just 25 percent shooting from the field (14-of-57) and forced into 20 turnovers.

Wayland also struggled offensively early on as the teams combined for just 11 points (UNTD 7, WBU 4) through the game's first 10 minutes. But the Pioneers eventually settled in and found a good combination on the floor, scoring 11 unanswered points – the first five by Brannon – to go from a 13-8 deficit to a 19-13 lead.

Wayland never trailed again.

The Pioneers doubled their 10-point halftime lead in the first four minutes of the second half with a half-opening 11-1 run. McDougal scored six points during that spurt which was capped by a 3 from Josh Servantez.

WBU went on to lead by as many as 33, 68-35, and more than doubled their winning margin (14 points, 66-52) over the Trailblazers from their Jan. 13 meeting in Dallas.

Jibrael Washington – who along with Deng Bol Yol was recognized prior to tip-off on Wayland's Senior Day – again played a major role in Wayland's defensive effort as the Pioneers' career shots blocker added five swats to his total. Jaxon Recer pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.