'Neers knock off No. 3 Langston for Galyean's 100th win

It was an extra sweet milestone win for the Wayland Baptist Pioneers and head coach Clint Galyean.

First and foremost, the Pioneers – ranked the equivalent of 39^th in the NAIA – knocked off the No. 3 team in the NAIA, the Sooner Athletic Conference-leading Langston Lions, in convincing fashion Saturday at Hutcherson Center, 90-80.

Not only did the win avenge an earlier 12-point loss to Langston, it secured Galyean's 100^th career victory and, what's more, it came against Galyean's friend and former boss, Lions head coach Chris Wright. Galyean and Wright coached together at Angelo State and Central Baptist (Ark.).

"I couldn't be more proud of our guys," Galyean said. "Langston is a very talented and well-coached team, so to collectively gut out that win is special."

Wayland (18-6, 13-5) locked up its eighth-straight win thanks to a 21-point night by RJ Mason and a 20-point effort from Tedrick Wolfe, along with 17 from D'Michael Bellfield and 10 from Parrish Hewitt, who also got with six assists.  In putting up the most points of the season against Langston, the Pioneers – averaging a league-high 88 ppg – knocked down 23-of-25 free throws (92 percent), with Mason a perfect 11-of-11. Dylan McDougal tacked on eight points while Jaxon Recer grabbed seven rebounds

"We had a lot of different guys step up tonight and make the plays when we had to," Galyean said.

Wayland led most of the game, although the Lions got up by six, 22-16, midway through the first half. When Manny Crump hit two free throws with 4:07 to go before intermission, the Pioneers never trailed again, although it was tied three times.

The last deadlock came at 54 with 12 minutes to play, but Wolfe made a fast-break layup on an assist by Wolfe after a steal by Josh Servantez to give the Pioneers the edge for good.

WBU was up two, 63-61, when the Pioneers went on a 12-2 run that featured two more layups by Wolfe and a 3 from Mason. Wayland went up by as many as 15, much to the delight of the close to 500 fans.

Langston, which shot 37 free throws (making 29, 78 percent), got 22 points from Tristan Harper (9-of-9 FTs), 15 from AJ Rainey, 13 from Toru Dean and 11 from Anthony White.

 "We are starting to play to the level that we expected, and we have to continue to push and work to reach that level of play," Galyean said. "We have a huge week next week on the road at OCU and JBU."

The SAC's second-place Pioneers make their final regular-season road trip against Oklahoma City (11-11, 9-7) at 8 p.m. Thursday then John Brown (7-15, 5-11) at 3:45 Saturday in Arkansas. In the first half of league play, WBU beat JBU, 78-54, but lost to OCU, 88-82.

Wayland then returns home for its final two regular-season games against USAO and Texas Wesleyan Feb. 16 and 18.