SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. – Reese Spencer and
Josh Servantez combined for 39 points off the bench and Wayland Baptist claimed its 10
th straight victory Saturday afternoon at Bill George Arena, topping John Brown University in Sooner Athletic Conference play, 97-76.
The winning streak is the longest for the Pioneers in 32 years, since the 1990-91 season when then head coach Rick Cooper's team won 12 in a row near the end of a 29-4 season. The Pioneers had won nine straight three other times since then.
WBU (20-6, 15-5 SAC) was able to make it a double-digit win streak by cruising past JBU (10-15, 8-11) thanks to red-hot shooting. The Pioneers hit 58 percent from the field (38-of-66) and 57 percent from 3-point range (10-of-18).
Both Spencer, who led all scorers with 22 points (two off his season high), and
D'Michael Bellfield, who had 19 points and a team-high six rebounds, were 8-of-10 from the floor while Servantez matched a season-best by drilling 5-of-6 3s toward his 17 points. The first five shots Servantez launched were 3s, and he made all of them during a torrid four-minute stretch from the time he entered the game with just under 14 minutes to play in the first half, helping WBU establish a 29-22 lead.
A 3 by Spencer put the Pioneers up by a dozen just before halftime, but JBU answered to make it 44-35 at the break.
After
Parrish Hewitt hit two free throws to open second-half scoring, Wayland never trailed by fewer than 11 points. A 3-pointer by
RJ Mason capped a 7-0 run that put the Pioneers up by 19 five minutes in, and the margin stayed between 14-21 the rest of the way.
Tedrick Wolfe scored 14 points – including at least a couple of impressive dunks – to give Wayland a fourth double-digit scorer. Hewitt ended with nine while
RJ Mason got seen and five assists.
JBU also had four in double-figures, led by Lukas Gabani's 14.
The Pioneers, who defeated John Brown by 22, 78-54, on Jan. 5 in Plainview, return home to close out the regular-season, first hosting Science & Arts of Oklahoma (14-11, 11-8) at 7:45 p.m. Thursday then entertaining Texas Wesleyan (13-12, 10-9) at 4 Saturday.
WBU can secure the No. 2 seed in the conference behind third-ranked Langston with a win Thursday. The Pioneers defeated USAO in the first half of league play, 93-83, while they fell to Texas Wesleyan, 95-90, on Jan. 12.
Wayland hasn't lost since.
