Gallery: (3-1-2022) Men's Basketball vs. SAGU
OKLAHOMA CITY – Wayland Baptist held 24
th-ranked Southwestern Assemblies of God to a scoring season-low, but the Pioneers came up three points shy of pulling off the upset in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament championship game here Tuesday night, 58-56.
"The guys played well. Unfortunately, just not well enough," Wayland coach
Clint Galyean said. "We should have had it. It's heart-breaking."
Now, the wait to see if the Pioneers' season will continue begins.
At the Gaulke Activity Center on the campus of Mid-America Christian University, fourth-seeded Wayland (19-13) led the second-seeded Lions by nine early in the second half, but SAGU (22-8) went on an 11-2 run to take the lead midway through the period. The Pioneers briefly regained the upper hand until the Lions went up for good with 7:43 left.
Still, WBU almost pulled it off.
Down eight with 3:19 left, Wayland got two free throws from
Josh Servantez and a three-point play from
RJ Mason to trim it to 54-51 with 1:22 to go. The teams traded free throws before Mason was fouled on a would-be game-tying 3-pointer that almost fell. With 13.7 seconds showing, he made the first two foul shots when the Lions called a timeout, then Mason came back out and calmly hit the third to tie it.
SAGU hustled up the floor where tournament MVP Joshua Kashila hit a leaning 12-foot from the right wing. Still with five seconds to play and after back-to-back timeouts, Wayland's
Jaxon Recer connected with
Thad Udoh on a long pass, but Udoh lost control as he dribbled near the top of the key, and the Pioneers were unable to get off a final shot.
The Pioneers now must wait to see if their resurrection from being 8-10 in mid-January then winning 11 of their next 13 games is enough receive an at-large bid to the NAIA National Championships. Those 64 teams will be announced at 7 p.m. Thursday on the NAIA's Facebook page.
"I hope they give us another shot. I think we would go and play well," said Galyean, who before arriving at Wayland prior to this season helped coach his Central Baptist (Ark.) teams to conference regular-season or tournament titles, and to the national tournament, four straight years
After the Pioneers knocked off 10
th-ranked conference champion Science & Arts of Oklahoma in Monday's semifinals, 73-68, Galyean said if the Pioneers held SAGU to 65 or fewer points they should have a good chance to win. Wayland did that, limited the Lions to a season-worst 58, the lowest by a tournament champion in conference history.
"If you would have told me we would hold them to 58, I'd take that every time," Galyean said. "We just didn't do enough offensively.
WBU also out-rebounded SAGU, 34-30. The Pioneers did commit 17 turnovers, but that was just one more than the Lions, whom they outscored 20-10 in points off of turnovers.
Servantez erupted for 20 points, tying SAGU's Joel Polius for game-high honors. It was two off a season-high for Servantez, who had 15 in the first half including three of his four 3-pointers. WBU hit 4-of-11 3s in the first half but just 2-of-10 after intermission.
Mason ended with 11 points, all in the second half, while Udoh got 10 and Recer eight.
Jibrael Washington pulled down a game-best nine rebounds before fouling out.
Mason and Washington were named to the all-tournament team.
It was SAGU's third tournament title in last five years under head coach Delton Deal. The Lions were ranked No. 3 going into this season after making it to the NAIA final four a year ago.
Wayland, meanwhile, was back in the tournament championship for the first time since 2018, when they also lost to SAGU in the finals, 90-81.
"To do what they did is impressive," Galyean said.
All-SAC Tournament
Nathan Bailey, SW Assemblies of God; Rashaun Coleman, Oklahoma City; Cameron Hines, Science & Arts;
RJ Mason, Wayland Baptist; Jibrael Washington Wayland Baptist.
Most Valuable Player: Joshua Kashila, SW Assemblies of God
