Gallery: (2-23-2023) Mens Basketball vs SCU
With six – almost seven – players scoring in double-figures, Wayland Baptist rolled to an 89-79 victory over Southwestern Christian in the Oklahoma Ford Dealers Sooner Athletic Conference quarterfinals on Thursday night at Hutcherson Center.
Manny Crump came off the bench for his best scoring effort, 14 points, since his Wayland debut on Jan. 12, while the Pioneers' other big man,
D'Michael Bellfield, added 12 points in just 11 minutes of play.
Parrish Hewitt and
Tedrick Wolfe added 11 points each while subs
Josh Servantez and
Jaxon Recer tacked on 10 points each for WBU (22-7). Wolfe pulled down nine rebounds, barely missing his second-straight double-double.
Ranked the equivalent of 27
th in the NAIA, second-seeded Wayland faced a Southwestern Christian (12-14) team that wasn't initially in the tourney field. The Eagles learned Tuesday they picked up a forfeit victory against the University of North Texas at Dallas and thus replaced the Trailblazers as the No. 7 seed against Wayland.
The Eagles made a game of it.
The first half featured 10 lead changes, the last at the intermission buzzer when Pioneer
RJ Mason ripped a 3-pointer to put Wayland up 46-43.
The Pioneers never gave up the upper hand in the final 20 minutes, although Southwestern Christian certainly threatened.
The Eagles got within one on four occasions and were down just 67-65 at the midway mark. But Wayland ran off seven straight points – a layup and fast-break 3 by
Dylan McDougal then a dunk by
Jaxon Recer after a steal by
Parrish Hewitt – to gain some breathing room.
The Eagles cut it to five with 4 ½ minutes to play, but Hewitt drilled a 3-pointer at the 3-minute mark then hit a pair of foul shots to stretch it to 10 with a minute to go. A signature fast-break jam by Wolfe closed out the scoring.
Five Southwestern Christian players scored at least 14 points, making for 11 double-figure scorers in the game. Mason finished with nine points or it would have been a dozen in double digits.
The difference came at the free-throw line where Wayland was 17-of-22 (77 percent) compared to just 15-of-26 (58 percent) for SCU.
Next for Wayland is a semifinal match at 8 p.m. Monday at MACU's Gaulke Activity Center in Oklahoma City against third-seeded Oklahoma City University (17-12), which eliminated No. 6 seed Texas Wesleyan, 90-80. The Pioneers split with the Stars during the regular-season, first falling at home, 88-82 on Jan. 7 before avenging that setback with a 90-84 decision in Oklahoma City on Feb. 9 during a 10-game winning streak.
Monday's 6 p.m. semifinal will feature a matchup of Lions as top-seeded, fifth-ranked Langston (27-2) takes on fifth-seeded Southwestern Assemblies of God (20-9). Langston rolled over John Brown, 80-53, on Thursday while SAGU topped Science & Arts of Oklahoma, 100-92.
Monday's winners advance to Tuesday's 8 p.m. championship.
