Pioneer Men's Basketball
2004-05 NEWS

BRIDGES NAMED ALL-AMERICAN SCHOLAR ATHLETE

Pioneer junior forward Nate Bridges was named to the 2005 Daktronics-NAIA Men's Basketball All-America Scholar Athlete team announced at the NAIA National Men's Basketball Tournament. Recipients  of the award must be a junior or above in academic standing and have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale. Bridges is an English major with a 3.97 GPA.

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DAVIS NAMED SAC NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR

DeJuan Davis, the Pioneer's 6'3 junior transfer from Redlands Community College, was named the Sooner Athletic Conference's Newcomer of the Year. Davis averaged 17 points and three rebounds a game for the WBU men during the 2004-05 season.

Kendall Webb was a second team All-Conference honoree. The 5'10 sophomore guard from Amarillo led the Pioneer team in assists with 157 (5.4/g) and was second in scoring, averaging 15.8 points a contest.

Other Pioneers named to the SAC's elite team were Davis, a third team selection, and 6'6 junior forward Nate Bridges, who earned honorable mention All-Conference status and was named to the Academic All-Conference team, as well. Bridges scored 11.5 points a game this season and led Wayland in rebounding (8.5/g) and in steals (2.2/g). He was also second in the NAIA in blocked shots with 2.38 per contest.

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BACK ON WINNING TRACK

The Pioneers, after losing a tough one to USAO on Thursday, used torrid shooting in the first half to defeat 15th-ranked Northwestern Oklahoma State 91-71 in Hutcherson Center.  The hot-hitting WBU men hit eight of their first 10 three-pointers, including seven straight at one point, to pull out to a 17-point halftime lead.

Junior DeJuan Davis hit six of eight from behind the arch to finish with a game-high 23 points, while sophomore Kendall Webb contributed 22.  Junior Nate Bridges also finished the game in double digits with 16 points.

Wayland shot an amazing 67 percent from the field in the first half, including nearly 71 percent from long range.  The blue and gold cooled off in the second 20 minutes, hitting just 37 percent of their shots, but kept up the defensive intensity.  For the game, the Pioneers scored 23 points off 18 NWOSU turnovers.

Now the WBU men must retain their shooting touch as they return to the road for tough games against #4 Oklahoma Christian and Southern Nazarene next week.  The Pioneers are currently in 8th place in the SAC standings with a 6-8 record, one and a half games up on both USAO and Southern Naz who are 5-9.  Only the top eight teams qualify for the conference tournament to be held March 3-8 in Shawnee, OK.

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PIONEERS STUMBLE AGAIN AT HOME

The Pioneers suffered their second home loss of the season and their fourth in five games, falling to #21 Lubbock Christian by a score of 72-63. Nate Bridges and Danny Storey both recorded double-doubles for the WBU men who were once again without the services of junior Clifton Clarida and his 13.3 point per game average. Bridges put in 17 points and had 11 rebounds, while Storey contributed 15 and 13. Kendall Webb and DeJuan Davis also reached the double figure mark in scoring with 13 and 12 points respectively.Down by four at half, the Pioneers would trail by as many as 14 midway through the second period before closing the gap to one, 53-52, with 6:22 left in the game. LCU's Brandon Jones took over there, however, knocking down three 3-pointers on the next four Chaparral possessions.

Both teams shot just 43 percent from the field, but LCU nailed 11 (of 27) long-distance shots to just three (of 18) for the Pioneers.

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WBU MEN SUFFER FIRST HOME LOSS

Kendall Webb and DeJuan Davis each scored 21 points, but the Pioneers could not pull off the upset of #4 Oklahoma Christian, losing 87-76. It was the first loss of the season at home for the WBU men, who were 10-0 at Hutcherson Center, going into the contest.

The Pioneers were without the services of junior guard Clifton Clarida who pulled a bicep muscle in the win over SNU on Thursday. Despite the loss of Clarida, the Pioneers jumped out to an early 12 point lead, but Oklahoma Christian went on a 11-0 run in the final 3:36 of the first half to take a four point lead at intermission, 37-33.

OC scored the first six points of the second period, and the Pioneers never got closer than eight after that. WBU shot just 37.7 percent from the field in the game compared to OC's 52.5 percent. Jarred Merrill, the NAIA's second leading scorer with a 24.8 per game average, was held to just seven points in the first half, but went on a scoring rampage after Nate Bridges fouled out with just over 11 minutes left in the game. Merrill finished the game with 21 points and 13 rebounds.

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PIONEERS REMAIN UNBEATEN AT HOME

by Sara Allbritton, Sports Information Student Asist.

The Pioneer basketball team remains unbeaten at Hutcherson Center, defeating the Crimson Storm of Southern Nazarene University, 93-75, in a fast-paced game that featured a combined 21 steals and 43 turnovers.

With an alley-oop from point guard Kendall Webb to high-flying forward Nate Bridges starting things off, the Pioneers scored the first 12 points of the game. The WBU men finished the first half outscoring SNU, 44-31, and continued to play strong to the end, never losing their lead.

Bridges posted two career highs with six blocks and eight steals to go along with his 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds. He also held the Storm’s leading scorer, Mouhamadou Diallo, to just eight points, 13 below his season average of 21.

“Coach gave me a huge defensive assignment,” Bridges said, “We were all just playing our game, and the fans were great.  That make all the difference in the world.  They're just crazy.”

Four other Pioneers scored in double figures, including DeJuan Davis with 17 and Clifton Clarida with 15. Webb added 14, and freshman Jonathan Woodard came off the bench to contribute 10. Webb also passed out eight assists and had two steals. Freshman Danny Storey pulled down seven rebounds, while Clarida added six for the Pioneers, who evened up their conference record at 4-4. They are 14-5 overall.

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DAVIS SCORES 21 IN PIONEER LOSS

DeJuan Davis found the basket for 21 points, but it wasn't enough as the Pioneers lost their second straight conference game, 65-60, at St. Gregory's. The junior transfer from Tulsa, who managed just seven points against Oklahoma City on Thursday, scored 16 points in the first half to help pace the WBU men to a 36-29 halftime lead. The Cavaliers quickly closed that margin to begin the second half and the battle was on as neither team could pull away by more than three points until the final buzzer.

Redshirt freshman Danny Storey and Nate Bridges, a junior, were the only other Pioneers to hit double-digits with 12 and 10 points respectively.  Wayland was once again victimized with poor shooting, hitting just six of 20 shots from the field and 10 of 17 from the free throw line in the second half.  St. Greg's, on the other hand, hit 13 of 26 shots in the final 20 minutes, and nine of 12 free throws.

The loss drops the Pioneers to 13-5 on the season and 3-4 in conference play, while the Cavaliers are 7-11 and 4-3.  All four of those SAC wins have been against Top 25 opponents.

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PIONEERS ICE COLD AGAINST STARS

The Pioneers have gone through games when they just couldn't buy a basket this season. The most notable occurred back on January 3 in Lubbock during the Sooner Athletic Conference opener at Lubbock Christian. The Pioneers lost that game 68-65, shooting just 30 percent from the field. They were able to keep that one close by hitting 30 of 37 shots from the free throw line. Thursday night in Oklahoma City, the WBU men again shot just 30 percent from the field on their way to a 66-51 loss to Oklahoma City University. The 51-point offensive output is the lowest for a Pioneer team in more than two decades.

Only two Pioneers made it into double figures in scoring. Nate Bridges led the way with 11 points, while Kendall Webb, who was just 3 of 12 from the field, got 10. Clifton Clarida had a game-high ten rebounds. The SAC’s leading three-point shooter, DeJuan Davis, was held to 1 of 7 shooting from behind the arch and seven points, while as a team the Pioneers managed to hit just 6 of their 26 long distance shots. The lone bright spot for the WBU men on the offensive side came at the charity stripe, where they hit 9 of 10.

WBU had just reentered the NAIA’s Top 25 this week at #21 after three straight conference wins. The Pioneers must make up some ground on Saturday against a tough St. Gregory’s team which is only 7-11 overall, but 3-3 in conference play with upset wins over then-#7 Oklahoma Baptist, #25 Northwestern Oklahoma, and Thursday night’s 64-59 win over 13th-ranked Lubbock Christian.

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HOME WIN STREAK INCREASES TO NINE

The Pioneers remain undefeated at home this season and improved their conference record to 3-2 with a 65-56 win over John Brown University. DeJuan Davis paced the WBU men with 19 points, followed by Kendall Webb with 18. Danny Storey was the only other Pioneer in double figures with 12, and he contributed a team-high seven rebounds as well.

WBU held a 38-27 halftime lead, but poor shooting in the second half (7-23 30.4%) almost doomed the Pioneers as JBU cut the lead to one with 10:39 left on the clock. After a timeout by Coach Todd Thurman, Wayland scored the next seven points to shut off the Golden Eagles momentum.

The Pioneers scored 23 points in the contest off of 21 JBU turnovers. John Brown outscored the WBU men in the paint, 20-16, and had 10 second chance points to just four for the Pioneers.

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BRIDGES UNLOADS ON OKLAHOMA BAPTIST

Pioneer junior Nate Bridges had a career-high 23 points to lead the Pioneers to a 79-76 victory over 7th-ranked Oklahoma Baptist in their SAC home opener. Bridges also had 12 rebounds, his fourth double-double of the season, one block and five steals. Sophomore point guard Kendall Webb had 18 points and juniors DeJuan Davis and Clifton Clarida put in 13 and 10 points respectively.

The game featured seven ties and 14 lead changes. WBU capitalized on Oklahoma Baptist turnovers, scoring 22 points off the 18 Bison turnovers. The Pioneers took their biggest lead of the game at the 7:22 mark when Webb hit a three-pointer to make the score 71-58. After OBU pulled back to within six, Clarida nailed a long-range bomb with just over two minutes remaining to give the Pioneers a 79-70 lead. That bucket was the last points of the game for the Pioneers, however, as OBU scored six straight to make the game tight at the end.

The WBU men extended their home win streak to eight games with the win.

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PIONEERS RALLY TO GET FIRST CONFERENCE WIN

The Pioneers scored 65 second half points to overcome an 11-point halftime deficit and defeat the University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma by a score of 92-73 in Chickasha, OK.  The win was the first of the conference season for the WBU men, who are now 11-3 on the year and 1-2 in SAC play.

The guards saved the day for the Pioneers as all three of the Wayland big men (Danny Storey, Nate Bridges and Pedro Montano) fouled out of the game.   Junior guard DeJuan Davis scored a game-high 30 points, while sophomore point guard Kendall Webb got 24, including hitting 15 of 18 from the charity stripe, and Clifton Clarida, another junior guard, contributed 21 to go with his game high 8 boards. 

The Pioneers, who shot miserably in the first two conference games, started the same way in this one,  shooting just 29 percent in the first 20 minutes.  WBU was down by as many as 16 in that period, but a 12-1 run to begin the second half evened things back up.  Clarida scored nine of the 12 points on a three-point play and two long-range field goals, and the Pioneers finally regained their shooting touch, hitting 19 of 29 shots from the field (65.5 percent), including 9 of 14 from behind the arch in the second period.

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PIONEERS SUFFER SECOND SAC LOSS

DeJuan Davis missed a shot as time expired and the Pioneers fell 61-60 at Northwestern Oklahoma State.  The WBU men have now lost two Sooner Athletic Conference games by a total of four points, first by three to #15 Lubbock Christian (68-65) in Lubbock on Monday then by one point to the Rangers on Thursday.

Davis led all scorers in the game with 19 points. Kendall Webb was the only other Pioneer in double figures with 14 points, 10 of which came from the free throw line. Nate Bridges had 11 rebounds and four blocks.

The Pioneers had another poor shooting night, hitting just 37 percent of their shots from the field, and only 21 percent from behind the three-point arch.  Despite getting off to a bad start, falling behind 9-0 early, Wayland fought back.  In all, the game saw 16 lead changes and eight ties.

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DAVIS NAMED SAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Pioneer DeJuan Davis was named Sooner Athletic Conference Player of the Week for Dec. 5-11.

The 6'3 junior from Tulsa scored a career high 34 points and had four rebounds and three assists in the Pioneer's 88-86 win over Texas A&M International.  He was 9 of 14 from the field, including 7 of 12 from the three-point arch, and hit 82 percent ( 9-11) from the free throw line.

Davis has been on fire over the course of the last three games, averaging 30 points, hitting 57 percent of his shots from the field (24-42), 54.3 percent (19-35) from behind the arch, and 88.5 percent (23-26) from the charity stripe.

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WIN STREAK ENDS AT NINE

The Pioneers will have to wait another year to try and break their consecutive wins streak. In a close game that saw six ties, 19th-rated Robert Morris College (14-3) of Chicago handed the WBU men their first loss of the 2004-05 season, 88-80, in the 2004 Disney Wide World of Sports NAIA Classic.

Down by as many as 14 early in the game, the Pioneers chipped away to take a 52-47 halftime lead. Junior DeJuan Davis led Wayland during the first 20 minutes with 22 of his game-high 29 points. In the second half, it was Robert Morris's turn to chip away.  The Eagles took the lead for good with just under 12 minutes to go in the game on a long three-pointer. 

The Pioneers, now 9-1 on the year, kept the game within four points until the five minute mark.  Robert Morris extended the lead to as many as eight points until Davis hit a three-pointer with just over three minutes left to close the score back to within two at 77-75, but that was as close as Wayland could get.

Kendall Webb joined Davis as the only other Pioneer in double figures with 17 points.  Nate Bridges had nine, Clifton Clarida had eight, and Pedro Montano came off the bench to contribute seven points.

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PIONEERS WIN NINTH STRAIGHT

In the first game of the Disney Classic in Orlando, FL, the Pioneers defeated Point Park College (PA) 96-82 to win their ninth straight game. The 9-0 start ties a Wayland record for most consecutive wins to begin a season which was set in 1985.  DeJuan Davis scored 25 points, including 11 of 12 from the free throw line, to lead the WBU men in scoring. Nate Bridges and Clifton Clarida added 18 points a piece, while Kendall Webb recorded a double-double with 16 points and 11 assists.  Bridges also contributed nine rebounds, four steals and three blocks.

The Pioneers, who led by just four at the half, 49-45, had trouble on the defensive end of the court for the second straight game, giving up over 80 points to an opponent for the first time this season.  Offensively, the team shot 49 percent from the field and hit 20 of 27 of their free throws. 

Point Park, an NAIA Division II school, is 7-8 on the season. The Pioneers will face their first ranked opponent of the season, 19th-ranked Robert Morris College, in the final game of the classic on Wednesday.

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20TH RANKED PIONEERS ARE 8-0

The Wayland Baptist Pioneers increased their win streak to eight in a row with an 85-73 win over Hastings College Saturday afternoon at Hutcherson Center. Five Pioneers scored in double figures, led by sophomore guard Kendall Webb with 22. He also contributed six assists.

Danny Storey, a redshirt freshman post, had a career high 18, while junior Nate Bridges recorded his third double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Junior transfers DeJuan Davis and Clifton Clarida came off the bench in the second half to contribute 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The Pioneers, ranked 20th in this week’s NAIA poll, travel to Orlando, FL on Sunday to participate in the Disney Classic. The WBU men will take on Point Park College on Tuesday, Dec. 21 at 8:30 p.m., and will then battle 19th-ranked Robert Morris College (12-3) on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

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SEVEN IN A ROW FOR PIONEERS

Kendall Webb scored 16 points to lead the Pioneers to a hard-fought 66-53 win over the Carroll College Fighting Saints. The win gives the WBU men seven straight wins to open the season. The last time that was done was during the 1987-88 season when the Pioneers opened 7-0 in route to a 22-9 record. The record for most wins to start a season is nine set in 1985-86.

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WIN STREAK MOVES TO 6

The Wayland men extended their win streak to six games with a 95-71 win over Oklahoma Panhandle State in the first game of the annual Plainview Lion's Pioneer Classic.  Kendall Webb led four Pioneers in double figures with 22 points.  Clifton Clarida added 21 and DeJuan Davis and Nate Bridges contributed 17 points each.  Webb also handed out nine assists and had four steals in 36 minutes of playing time.

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THURMAN PICKS UP 100TH CAREER WIN

Pioneer coach Todd Thurman picked up his 100th career win Saturday afternoon in the Pioneers's 94-66 victory over Huston-Tillotson in Austin. Four Pioneers scored in double figures, led by sophomore point guard Kendall Webb with 21. Juniors Clifton Clarida, Nate Bridges and DeJuan Davis had 19, 14 and 11 points respectively.

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PIONEERS WIN #3 AGAINST PAYNE

by Sara Allbritton, Sports Information Student Asist.

Another win was added to the Pioneer record Saturday as the Wayland Baptist men’s basketball team topped the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets, 89-63, during Wayland‘s annual Homecoming celebration. The win advanced the Pioneer record to 3-0 for the season.

The Pioneers had four players scoring in double figures. Junior transfers DeJuan Davis and Clifton Clarida contributed 17 points each, as did sophomore returnee Kendall Webb. Junior Nate Bridges supplied the Pioneers with 12 points, including an infamous alley-oop, and pulled down nine rebounds. Pedro Montano added 8 points off the bench and Gustavo Lucena had 4 steals to help the Pioneers to their win.

Webb posted his best game for the season so far, dishing out six assists, pulling down four rebounds, and taking three steals from HPU to go with his 17 points. “I try and stay relaxed and just go with flow,” says Webb, who added that he didn’t prepare for the game any differently than any other game so far. “That’s how I always try to be.”

The Pioneers took the early lead and never let it go, despite shooting just 42.9 percent from the field in the first half. The Yellow Jackets managed to close to within eight points at the 11:02 mark, but the Pioneers pulled out to a 42-29 lead at the close of the half.

“I don’t think we played well the first half,” said Webb “but we came out strong in the second half and didn’t let what we did the first 20 minutes affect us.“

During the second half the Pioneer’s solved their shooting woes, hitting 55.6 percent from the field and opening up a more substantial lead.

With almost a whole new team to become accustomed to, Webb, along with returning teammates Nate Bridges and Danny Storey, is learning to play with the other guys. “Everybody is reading everybody,“ said Webb. “It’s like a quarterback and a wide receiver, you have to learn them and get a feel for them before you can dominate.” Webb went on to say the new guys are fun to have around, and they are all working for and wanting the same thing, a conference championship.”

The Pioneers will continue play this week as they travel to Austin to face Huston-Tillotson College on Saturday. Then they will move on Odessa to play UT-Permian Basin the following Tuesday. The Pioneers have beaten both teams this season.

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WBU TAKES ONE FROM HUST0N-TILLOTSON

By Danny Andrews (Plainview Daily Herald Editor

Alley Oop graced the pages of funny papers for many years. Saturday, "Alley Oop" got Wayland pumping toward an eventual 98-64 rumble past Huston-Tillotson and a 2-0 start on the young season.

Newcomer DeJuan Davis from Redlands Junior College in California, who finished the first half with 15 points en route to a game high 27, mailed an arching pass toward the basket and sophomore Nate Bridges of Levelland skied to ram the ball home with a one-hand monster jam that gave the Pioneers a 36-29 lead with 3:45 to go in the half.

The Pioneers never slowed down and never looked back, building a 41-38 halftime lead, then going on a 12-0 run early in the second half.

"We play like a family," said the 6-3 Davis, who played high school ball in Tulsa, Okla.

"We're meshing with the new guys," said Bridges, who only grinned and couldn't say if the slam-dunk was the best of his career. He took a hard bump but banked in a shot to start the 12-0 run and followed Canyon freshman Danny Storey's rebound shot with another jam. Then Davis hit a technical foul shot on the Ram's Tyrus Davis of San Antonio Sam Houston, who had 15 of his 17 points in the first half before being ejected with his second technical at 13:58 as the Pioneers ran their advantage to 62-42. HTC then went a total of seven minutes without scoring in the second half.

The spurt also was aided by one of nine second half treys by the Pioneers that helped push the score to 89-57. Davis hit two of those. He nailed 10 of 13 from the floor and also had three rebounds and three assists.

He's the complete package," said Wayland coach Todd Thurman.

Clifton Clarida tallied 18 points while Bridges collected 14 and Pedro Montano added 12. Storey and Bridges each claimed 11 of Wayland's rebounds.

"We have to play like we did in the second half after gettingoff to a slow start. We're not very big but we can outwork and outthink people," said Thurman. "I was very proud of our second half effort and I was especially proud of our 22 assists," led by Canyon Randall sophomore Kendall Webb with 10. "Kendall did a great job of handling the ball. We know he has the ability to score quickly."

The Pioneers shot a solid 53 percent from the floor compared with 39.3 for H-T (0-2).

Wayland next hosts Howard Payne at 4 p.m. Saturday in the second game of a Homecoming doubleheader. The Queens play UT-Permian Basin at 2 p.m. Saturday.

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PIONEERS GET WIN #1

The Wayland Baptist University Pioneer basketball team broke two long-distance shooting marks in getting their first win of the season, a 106-70 decision against the University of Texas-Permian Basin at Hutcherson Center. The WBU men hit 21-48 shots from three-point range to break the old marks of 20 three-pointers made which was set during the 2002-03 season and 40 three-pointers attempted, set in 2001.

Junior DeJuan Davis, who hit six three-pointers, led the Pioneers in scoring with 20 points. Sophomore point guard Kendall Webb added 19, including 15 from behind the arch, and freshman Kris Hatley came off the bench to contribute 12, all of which came from long-distance. Junior Clifton Clarida and Gustavo Lucena, another freshman off the bench, also hit the double-figure mark in scoring, putting in 10 points each.

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PIONEERS LOSE POLANOWSKI TO KNEE INJURY

Michal Polanowski, the Pioneer's new 6'10 center, suffered a season-ending knee injury in last Thursday's pre-season scrimmage against South Plains College. Polanowski tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his right knee just two minutes into the scrimmage on a break-away after stealing the ball.

The freshman from Konin, Poland, was expected to start for the WBU men during the 2004-05 season. He will undergo corrective surgery once swelling in the knee is reduced.

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2004-05 PIONEER PREVIEW

The 2003-04 Wayland Baptist University Pioneer basketball squad reached the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament’s Championship game for the first time in school history and qualified for the NAIA National Championship Tournament for the third straight season. Two of the top four point producers from that team are returning. Unfortunately, those two are the only returning lettermen.

Todd Thurman, who is beginning his sixth year at the helm of the Pioneers, believes that he and his coaching staff may be facing one of their greatest challenges this season.

“We feel like we’ve lain a good foundation for the program over the past five seasons, but with this many new faces coming in, it’s almost like starting over again. There are lots of unknowns. We don’t know how quickly they are going to be able to learn our system, and we don’t know how they are going to react under fire. Of course, we recruited these guys with the idea that they can handle those things.”

Bringing stability to the 2004-05 Pioneers are returnees Nate Bridges and Kendall Webb. Bridges, a 6’6 junior forward from Levelland who was an honorable mention All-Conference selection, led the Pioneers in rebounding a year ago (7.9 rpg) and was third in scoring (11.8 ppg). A 5’10 sophomore point guard from Randall High School, Webb (11.3 ppg) was named SAC Freshman of the Year and earned the Hustle Award at the conference tournament.

Also returning is 6’7 post Danny Storey, a red-shirt freshman from Canyon who spent last year putting on 25 pounds of muscle and is now ready to make an impact, according to Thurman.

“We’ll be looking to those guys to provide leadership and stability, especially early on,” says Thurman. “They have the knowledge of our system and of what it takes to make it through our conference.”

Among the newcomers to the WBU campus are junior college transfers DeJuan Davis, Clifton Clarida and Pedro Montano. Davis, a 6’3 junior guard, played a vital part on the Redlands Junior College team that won the NJCAA National Championship his freshman season and was runner-up last year. Clarida is a 6’2 junior guard/forward from Cochise College.

Montano comes to WBU after one season at Santa Fe (FL) Community College. Thurman says the 6’7 forward from Venezuela is extremely athletic and has the potential to make a major impact, as does another newcomer, 6’8 freshman post Michal Polanowski of Poland.

“Michal is the first true center we’ve had. He is an explosive athlete with great timing and a vast amount of international experience under his belt.”

Gustavo Lucena is also a freshman that has played internationally. The 6’1 guard, who originally hails from Venezuela, comes to Plainview from the Virginia prep school leagues, along with 6’4 forward Jonathan Woodard. Thurman describes Lucena as a talented player who will be very good and Woodard as a great shooter who will provide the Pioneers with height on the wing.

Justas Mikelionis, a 6’3 sophomore red-shirt from Vilnius, Lithuania, is a junior college transfer from Barton County Community College.

Two new area products on the 2004-05 Pioneer team are Kris Hatley, a 5’9 guard from Midland Greenwood High School, and Ryan Ocheskey, a 6’6 forward/post from Denver City.

Thurman is excited not only about the overall athleticism of his newest team, but also about the kind of young men they are. “These guys are probably the most athletic team I’ve coached. They are so explosive, but they seem to be fundamentally sound.

“This group is also a joy to be around. Each one walked onto campus and became a part of the WBU community from the very beginning.”

The new-look Pioneers start their season off with three straight home games beginning on November 6 against the University of Texas-Permian Basin.

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