PLAINVIEW, Texas – The Wayland Baptist University men's basketball team, currently ranked 10th in the NAIA, took care of business on their home floor as they knocked off the University of the Southwest 99-81 Saturday afternoon.
A fast start was one of the keys to the game for the Pioneers. The Mustangs grabbed a 2-1 advantage with just under two minutes gone in the game, but after a Tahjae Hill layup put the Pioneers up 3-2, a lead they would never relinquish. For the next several minutes the game was back and forth, every time Wayland would look to stretch their lead to double digits, Southwest would answer with a quick run of their own.
That seesaw would tip in the Pioneers favor when Bol Tong's three-pointer ignited a 17-2 run over the course of three minutes. Tong bookended the Pioneer's run with a layup and gave Wayland a 46-27 lead. During the 17-2 run, Tong scored or assisted on 13 of the 17 Pioneers points. When Wayland jogged to the locker room, they held a 17-point advantage 53-36.
The second half was not the same type of start for the Pioneers, as they were slow out of the break. Over the first seven and a half minutes, the Mustangs cut the 17-point advantage to just six, 64-58. A quick Wayland run, capped by a Jaxon Recer drive and layup pushed the lead back to 17-points, 79-62 with six and a half minutes remaining. Southwest would not go away as they responded with a 10-0 run to cut the lead to seven points at 79-72 with four minutes left in the game. A pair of Brett Leach free-throws led to a 10-0 spurt by the Pioneers, with the run capped off by a Linton Brown dunk. Joshua Tucker free-throws capped the scoring for the night for both teams and gave Wayland a 99-81 win.
The Pioneers scored 16 points off turnovers, and 13 of them were in the first half. The Mustangs outscored Wayland Baptist 16-14 in second chance points. But the Pioneers dominated the paint scoring 56 points to Southwest's 42.
Wayland was led in scoring by Brown, who had 20 points coming off the bench. Leach added 18 points, while D'Michael Bellfield chipped in 16 of his own. Meikkel Murray added a double-double posting 12 points and 11 rebounds, he also led the team with four assists. Tong added 12 points in 12 minutes off the bench, while Hill added 11 points.
The Pioneers head to Canyon on Monday to take on West Texas A&M University, the game is set to start at 5 PM.
