- STOREY EARNS ALL-AMERICAN HONORS
- SEASON ENDS FOR PIONEERS
- PIONEERS TO MEET MOUNTAIN STATE (AGAIN)
- PIONEERS WIN GAME ONE
- PIONEERS TO OPEN NATIONAL TOURNEY
- PIONEERS FALL IN SAC SEMIS
- STOREY BREAKS RECORD IN TOURNEY WIN
- FOUR PIONEERS EARN ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
- PIONEERS DEFEAT DROVERS IN 2OT
- BATTLE OF RANKED TEAMS ENDS WITH PIONEER LOSS
- PIONEERS SQUEAK BY EVANGELS
- #19 PIONEERS COME UP SHORT AGAINST #9 OCU
- LATE FIRST HALF RALLY SPOILS ROAD TRIP
- PIONEERS GET BACK ON WINNING TRACK
- MISSED FREE THROWS COST PIONEERS
- PIONEERS MAKE IT NINE STRAIGHT AT HOME
- #22 PIONEERS UPSET #12 SNU
- MEN STUMBLE AGAINST USAO
- PIONEERS BREAK INTO TOP 25
- WBU HANDS LCU ITS FIRST HOME LOSS
- PIONEERS WIN A NAILBITER
- MISSION ACCOMPLISHED... PART ONE
- WIN STREAK STOPPED AT SEVEN
- PIONEERS MOVE INTO FIRST PLACE TIE
- STOREY NAMED SAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
- MAKE IT SIX STRAIGHT FOR THE PIONEERS
- PIONEERS HOLD ON TO DEFEAT NWOSU
- WAYLAND MEN WIN FOURTH STRAIGHT
- PIONEERS WIN SLUGFEST IN OKLAHOMA
- GRIFFIN SCORES 21 TO LEAD PIONEERS
- PIONEERS COME FROM BEHIND FOR WIN
- WBU MEN LOSE A TIGHT ONE
- PIONEERS FALL AT OBU
- WOOLDRIDGE ACCEPTS NEW POSITION
- PIONEERS DEFEAT WTA&MU
- BENTON HITS MILESTONE
- WBU MEN STRUGGLE ON ROAD
- PIONEERS SET RECORD IN WIN
- PIONEERS SPLIT GAMES IN CLASSIC
- 2007-08 SEASON TIPS OFF THIS WEEKEND
- PIONEERS TAKE GOSPEL AND BASKETBALL TO EUROPE
- RECRUITING CLASS OF 2007 FINALIZED
- TWO MORE INK WITH PIONEERS
- PIONEERS GET THREE MORE COMMITMENTS
- POINT GUARD FROM COCHISE SIGNS WITH TEAM
- PIONEERS SIGN TWO RECRUITS
STOREY EARNS ALL-AMERICAN HONORS
Wayland Baptist University’s Danny Storey has been named as a 2008 NAIA 2nd team All-American. Two other Pioneers, Michal Polanowski and Lee Berend, were named to the 2008 Daktronics/NAIA All-American Scholar Athlete team.
A senior center from Canyon, Storey led the Sooner Athletic Conference and was fourth in the NAIA in rebounding with a 10.8 per game average. The Pioneers’ leading scorer averaging 14.6 points this season, Storey was the only SAC player to average a double-double for the season. He closed out his career at WBU as the school’s all-time leading rebounding with 1,032 boards, and his 1,426 career points puts him at #12 in Pioneer scoring history.
A 6-10 senior center from Konin, Poland, Polanowski averaged just over nine points and four-and-a-half boards for Coach Robert Davenport’s Pioneers.
Berend, a 6-5 junior wing from Graham, averaged seven points and three rebounds for the Pioneers during the 2007-08 season.
Student-athletes must be nominated by their head coach, have achieved junior academic status and maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale.
SEASON ENDS FOR PIONEERS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. –Wayland got a career high 26 points from senior post Danny Storey, but it wasn't enough to overcome 13 three-pointers by 5th-seeded Mountain State University as the Pioneers fell to the Cougars, 84-71, in the second round of the 2008 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Championship.
The Cougars shot their way into Saturday’s third round by making 13 three-point field goals, including eight in the first half. Seven different Cougar players made at least one shot from beyond the three-point arc in the victory. Mountain State improves to 32-2 on the year and will play Saturday at 2 p.m. CST against either Azusa Pacific University (Calif.) or Louisiana State University at Shreveport.
Senior guard James Spencer scored 14 of his team-high 21 points in the first half to lead Mountain State. Senior guard Jarvis Jackson added 18 points, five assists and four steals, while senior center Jason McGriff posted 12 points and six rebounds. Senior guard Ralph Legg came off the bench to connect for 10 points for the Cougars.
Wayland Baptist opened the game with a 10-2 run over the first four minutes of play. Mountain State took its first lead of the contest, 15-14, on a basket in the lane by Spencer with 12:34 remaining in the period. The Cougars eventually stretched the margin to 11 points before Wayland Baptist scored the final four points of the period to pull within 44-42 at the intermission.
Mountain State broke open a close game early in the second half with a 12-2 run to grab a 61-48 lead with just over 14 minutes to play. Senior guard Adron Marshall capped the spurt with a three-pointer at the 14:09 mark.
Pioneer coach Robert Davenport says that the difference in the game came down to who made the shots.
“I thought it was a well fought game. The difference is that they made shots. I thought we attacked them well when we needed to, but we turned the ball over a little too much.”
Wayland senior center Danny Storey, who grabbed a team-leading nine rebounds against MSU, closed out his career with 1,426 points, moving into 12th place in WBU all-time scoring, and a school-record 1,032 rebounds.
Mountain State coach Bob Bolen had this to say about Storey: “He plays hard and is such a warrior. He battles every possession.”
Senior guard Kris Hatley posted 12 points and five assists, while senior center Michal Polonowski helped out with 11 points for the Pioneers. Wayland Baptist ends its season with an overall record of 20-13.
PIONEERS TO MEET MOUNTAIN STATE (AGAIN)
For the fourth time in their last five trips to the NAIA Men’s Division I National Championship Tournament, the Wayland Baptist Pioneers will face Mountain State University of West Virginia. The game is set to begin at 9 a.m. on Friday at Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium.
WBU played the Cougars in the first round of the 2002 tourney, losing 85-71. In 2003 and 2004, the Pioneers and Cougars met in the second round with Mountain State coming out on top both times, 94-85 and 84-66. MSU went on to reach the championship game in both those years, winning the national title in 2004.
Mountain State, the tourney’s fifth seed, won 24 straight to open the 2007-08 basketball season and sat atop the NAIA Top 25 for eight straight weeks. The Cougars are 30-2 on the year with both losses by a total of two points, 71-70 to Lindsey Wilson College, and 73-72 to Lee University.
Those three meetings on the national stage are the only times that the two schools have met. Lindsey Wilson is the only common opponent this season. MSU split two meetings with LWC, while the Pioneers lost 87-78 during the Lindsey Wilson Classic back on Nov. 10.
MSU is led by 6-4 senior guard James Spencer, the NAIA’s leading scorer, who averages 24.3 points. Adron Marshall, another 6’4 senior guard, averages 16.9 points a game, and Jason McGriff, a 6’9 senior center, is the team’s rebounding leader, hauling down 7.8 boards a game. Senior point guard Jarvis Jackson is fourth in NAIA assists with a 5.2 per game average.
The Cougars boast the nation’s second-best offensive team, scoring almost 93 points a contest. They are #3 in three-point shooting, putting in an average of almost ten long balls a game.
Defensively, MSU is second in field goal percentage, holding opponents to just 39 percent shooting, and third in rebounding (43.6 rpg).
Wayland is third-best in the NAIA in three-point defense, allowing its opponents to shoot just 29 percent from behind the arch. Danny Storey continues to lead the nation in defensive rebounding and is fourth nationally in total rebounds.
The winner of the WBU/MSU game will advance to Saturday’s quarterfinal round to face the winner of the Azusa Pacific/LSU-Shreveport game at 2 p.m.
PIONEERS TO OPEN NATIONAL TOURNEY
Click here for complete bracket
The Pioneers will play the opening game of the 71st Annual Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship Tournament. WBU will take on #12 seed Martin Methodist College of Tennessee at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, March 19.
If the Pioneers advance, they will take on either #5 seed Mountain State or Olivet Nazarene in the second round on Friday at 9 a.m.
The other half of the quarter-bracket includes LSU-Shreveport, USAO, Columbia (Mo.) and Azusa Pacific. The quarter's quarterfinal game is Saturday at 2 p.m. with a Monday, 6:30 p.m., semifinal.
The national championship game is 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 25.
Martin Methodist, a member of the Trans South Athletic Conference, comes into the tournament with a 25-7 record. The Redhawks have four players averaging 10 or more points, led by 6-6 senior forward Kendaris Pelton, a transfer from Southern Mississippi University, with 17.7 points. Senior Kevin Green, a 6-5 forward, averages 12 points, 6-2 guard Carlton Peete puts in 10.9 points a game, and Jacob McKissack, a 6-2 guard, averages 10 points.
MMC is fifth in the NAIA in steals per game (10.1/g). Senior guard Eric Howard is #5 in NAIA steals, averaging 2.75 thefts.
Marvin Listenbee, the largest player on the team at 6-9, 255 pounds, has averages of 4.5 points and 3.5 rebounds.
The Pioneers are 19-12 overall and unseeded. Senior post Danny Storey leads the team, averaging 14.5 points and 10.9 rebounds. Tony Jones is the only other WBU player averaging in double figures at 10.4 points.
PIONEERS FALL IN SAC SEMIS
by Tommy Young
EDMOND, Okla. -- Much like the first two meetings between Oklahoma City University and Wayland Baptist University, Saturday's Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal was very physical and hard fought. Unfortunately for the Pioneers of WBU, the outcome was the same as the first two, as Oklahoma City came up with an 81-69 win at the Payne Athletic Complex on the campus of Oklahoma Christian University.
The Pioneers' struggles began early as OCU raced out to an 8-2 advantage and the Pioneers' first field goal was a 3-pointer by senior guard Kris Hatley at the 15:16 mark of the first half. Twenty-four seconds later, Hatley narrowed the gap to 8-7 on a layup and that was the last time the Pioneers were ever really close.
Hatley paced the Pioneers with 13 first-half points, due in large part to Pioneers' leading scorer Danny Storey picking up two personal fouls early on and sitting on the bench for more than 13 minutes.
"I didn't want to lose this game, so I was trying to do what I had to do and try to take over the game if I had to. If it was passing the ball down low or whatever it was, I was willing to do it," said Hatley of his first-half performance.
In addition to Storey's absence, the Pioneers also struggled from the floor in the first half, hitting only 9 of 31 shots, for 29 percent. Conversely, the Stars connected on 56 percent of their shots from the floor in the first half.
Senior forward Michal Polanowski also helped keep the Pioneers in the ball game in the first half, going a perfect 8-of-8 from the foul line. Polanowski realized that with Storey on the bench, more responsibility was laid on his broad shoulders.
"Danny's a big part of our team; he adds a lot to it. (Having him sit out) was tough," he said. "It does happen; we just need to be ready and other guys have to be ready to step up when Danny has problems with fouls. We have to play and help the team. It's a team."
Despite Hatley and Polanowski's best efforts, Oklahoma City led at the break 37-29.
Storey returned to action in the second half, but still only scored seven points and grabbed six rebounds for the game. It was senior Tony Jones and sophomore Jason Griffin who provided the spark for the Pioneers in the second half. Jones had 7 second-half points, including back-to-back buckets to draw the Pioneers to within six at 52-46. Griffin added 8 points in the stanza, but the Pioneers never got closer than 6 points.
"Every time we came back, it seemed they hit another big shot or we turned it over or something like that. We played our butts off, but we just couldn't get over that hump somehow," Hatley said.
Oklahoma City hit their free throws down the stretch. SAC Player of the Year Ollie Bailey led the free-throw parade, going 12-of-16 from the charity stripe, scoring half of his game-high 24 points. Guard Kameron Gray (the 2007 NAIA National Tournament MVP) added 15 points; Ronald Taylor chipped in 13.
Polanowski led the Pioneers with 18 points. Kris Hatley had 16, 13 of those coming in the first half. Jones and Griffin also had double-digits, with 11 and 10 respectively.
The loss drops Wayland to 19-12 on the season. The 22nd-ranked Pioneers are assured of a berth in the 2008 NAIA National Tournament to be held March 16-22 at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.
"We know that our season isn't over, and we have another tournament to play in," said Hatley. "We're just going to focus on Kansas City right now."
STOREY BREAKS RECORD IN TOURNEY WIN
Edmond, Okla.---Wayland Baptist senior post Danny Storey became the Pioneers’ all-time rebounding leader and Tony Jones put in a career high 22 points in Wayland’s 69-58 win over Northwestern Oklahoma State on Thursday afternoon in the second round of the Sooner Athletic Conference Championship Tournament.
Early in the first half of the contest, Storey became only the second player in Pioneer history to reach the 1,000 point/1,000 rebound plateau, then midway through the second period, the 6’7 Canyon native hauled down his eighth board of the game to become the all-time rebounding leader in WBU history.
Storey, a 2008 1st team All-Conference honoree and SAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year, has 1,384 career points and 1,006 career rebounds during his four years in a Pioneer uniform.
In the game against Northwestern Oklahoma, WBU went on a 10-2 run to open up an eight point lead right before the half, highlighted by back-to-back three-pointers by Lee Berend, but the Rangers’ Felipe Eichenberger hit a long three at the buzzer to close the gap back to five at 34-29.
The Pioneers scored the first five points of the second half to extend the lead to ten. Kris Hatley’s shot in the paint at the 15:09 mark gave WBU an 11-point margin, but NWOSU came back with a 10-2 run of their own to close the gap to 50-47 midway through the period.
Jones scored 12 of his 22 points over the next six minutes, starting with back-to-back treys and ending with dunks on two consecutive WBU possessions, to put an end to the Ranger hopes.
Storey finished the game with 15 points and nine rebounds, and Berend, who played sparingly in the second half after suffering an injury to his right hand, had 12 points.
The Pioneers shot 54 percent from the field, compared to 34 percent for NWOSU. Wayland held a slim advantage on the boards, 35-34, but turned the ball over 20 times which led to 24 Ranger points.
WBU next plays at noon on Saturday against the winner of tonight’s late game between Oklahoma City and Lubbock Christian University.
FOUR PIONEERS EARN ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
Wayland Baptist Pioneer senior Danny Storey has been named 2007-08 Sooner Athletic Conference Co-Defensive Player of the Year and is a 1st team All-Conference honoree. Teammates Michal Polanowski, Tony Jones and Kris Hatley received Honorable Mention All-SAC recognition.
A 6-7 senior post from Canyon, Storey leads the conference in rebounding and is third in the NAIA with an 11.1 per game average. He is also the Pioneer’s scoring leader with a 14.7 average, hitting 54.3 percent of his shots from the field, and has a team-high 45 steals.
Storey is three rebounds away from becoming just the second Pioneer in Wayland history to surpass both the 1,000 point and 1,000 rebound total, and eight boards from taking over as the all-time rebounder in Pioneer history.
Polanowski, a 6-10 senior from Poland, leads the Pioneers in blocks with 30. He averages 8.9 points and 4.6 rebounds a game.
A senior transfer from Idaho State University, Jones is second on the Pioneers in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 10 points and just over five boards a game. The 6-5 forward played his high school career at San Antonio’s Taft High School.
A graduate of Midland’s Greenwood High School, Hatley took over as the Pioneer point guard this season. The 5-10 senior leads the team in assists with 88.
Three Pioneers were recognized as Academic All-Conference performers. Juniors Lee Berend of Graham and Jon Hurt of Mason, Okla., along with Polanowski, have maintained a grade point average of at least 3.25 in 64 hours or more of classroom credit.
PIONEERS DEFEAT DROVERS IN 2OT
It took them 50 minutes to do it, but the Pioneers finally earned that coveted first round bye in this week's Sooner Athletic Conference tournament with a
91-86 double overtime victory over the University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma. The win assured the WBU men of the fourth seed in the conference tournament which begins with the first round on Wednesday at the Eagle's Nest on the campus of Oklahoma Christian University.
Danny Storey led the Pioneers with 26 points and 14 rebounds. Tony Jones scored 19, Michal Polanowski added 17, and freshman Desmond Dickson came off the bench to contribute 14.
The Pioneers trailed throughout the first half, falling behind by as much as 12 at the 1:30 mark.
USAO was up by 11 at the midway point of the second period when the Pioneers went on a 15-3 run, grabbing their first lead of the game, 66-65, with 5:57 on the clock.
Tim Nelson of the Drovers hit a basket with 40 seconds left to tied the game at 71, and neither team could score in the waining seconds.
The two teams stayed close in the first overtime period. Storey's jumper in the paint with just under two minutes left gave the Pioneers a four point advantage, but Nelson once again tied th game when he hit a three with just under 20 seconds remaining.
WBU never trailed in the second overtime, getting buckets by Storey and Jones and hitting 7-of-8 free throws.
Both teams shot 50 percent from the field for the game, but the big difference came at the charity stripe where the Pioneers were 28-35 (80%), while the Drovers were 13-18 (72.2%).
The Pioneers will take on the winner of the #5 Northwestern Oklahoma State vs. #12 John Brown game on Thursday at 2 p.m.
BATTLE OF RANKED TEAMS ENDS IN PIONEER LOSS
In a physical game between two top 25 opponents, the #7 Southern Nazarene University Crimson Storm held on to defeat the 20th-ranked Wayland Baptist Pioneers, 80-70, Thursday evening at Hutcherson Center.
There were 11 ties in the game and seven lead changes, the majority of those in a first half in which neither team shot the ball particularly well. The Pioneers were 12-of-28 (42.9%) from the field, while the Storm hit 13 of their 35 field goal attempts (37.1%).
WBU took a 34-32 lead into the room at the half, but Southern Naz immediately tied it up on its first shot of the second period, and then took the lead for good a minute later.
The Pioneers stayed within striking distance until the 10 minute mark when the Storm went on a 20-8 run that turned a slim 49-47 advantage into a 14-point spread with just under four minutes remaining.
The outcome of the game was decided in the paint, where the WBU men were outscored 46-34. SNU also won the battle of the boards, 44-35, and came up with ten steals.
Danny Storey led the Pioneers with 17 points, but was held to just nine rebounds, one of the few times in league play that the senior from Canyon has been held under ten rebounds. Jason Griffin came off the bench to score 15 and Michal Polanowski had 13 for WBU.
Earl Isaacson led four SNU players in double figures with 18 points.
The Pioneers (17-11, 13-8) are now in a tie for third place in the Sooner Athletic Conference with Oklahoma Baptist University. Southern Naz (23-6, 17-4) retains its hold on first place in the conference.
WBU plays its final regular season game at home on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 against the University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma.
PIONEERS SQUEAK BY EVANGELS
The men’s half of doubleheader basketball at Wayland Baptist on Homecoming Saturday didn’t have the offensive fireworks of the women’s game, but the excitement factor more than made up for it.
The Pioneers narrowly escaped with a 73-69 win over Mid-America Christian University to maintain their hold on third place in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings.
The game started off with a slam dunk by Tony Jones of the Pioneers and ended on two free throws by Kris Hatley to seal the win. In between, there were 14 lead changes, all in the first half, and six ties. The WBU men shot an impressive 56 percent from the field, a season high, and on the defensive end, committed 13 steals and blocked four shots.
Danny Storey recorded his league-leading 17th double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Lee Berend had a season-high 17 points, while Hatley added 12 and Jones put in 10 to round out the Pioneers in double figures.
Wayland outscored the Evangels 46-38 in the paint and converted 17 MACU turnovers into 16 points, but for one of the few times this season, the Pioneers were out-rebounded in a game, 30-25.
After the game, WBU coach Robert Davenport gave a lot of credit to the visiting team.
“They played hard. We kind of took it to them when we played up there (the Pioneers won 72-36 last month in Oklahoma City) and I knew they would be gunning for us. We let them stay in the game early, and they got some confidence.
In the end, we did what we had to do to win. They are a quality team that is well coached and I hope that we won’t have to play them again.”
The Pioneers (17-10, 13-7) face a strong challenge in their final two regular season games, both at home. First up is Southern Nazarene University on Thursday evening. The Crimson Storm are ranked 8th in the NAIA and are currently atop the conference standings. The way doesn’t get any easier in Saturday afternoon’s final game when the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma comes visiting. WBU lost to the Drovers 71-64 four weeks ago.
“We beat Southern Naz on their home court, so they are going to come in here ready to play,” said Davenport. “USAO is a very athletic team and they are always a challenge to play.
“We’ve got to win these next two in order to assure ourselves of at least an at-large bid to the national tournament. I guarantee that this will be an intense week of practice.”
#19 PIONEERS COME UP SHORT AGAINST #9 OCU
In a game they almost had to win to have a shot at the Sooner Athletic Conference regular season championship, the #19 Pioneers came up short, 75-70, against #9 Oklahoma City University on Thursday evening at Hutcherson Center.
The Pioneers entered the contest two games behind Oklahoma City and Southern Nazarene University who are tied atop the conference standings. Following the loss, the WBU men are now 16-10 and 12-7 in SAC play, three games back with three games remaining. Because OCU (20-7, 15-4) swept the season series, the Stars own the tie-breaker.
“I’m very frustrated,” said Wayland coach Robert Davenport following the contest. “We outworked them, and I feel like we outplayed them. I’m not disappointed in our kids, because they worked their tails off. We had some calls that went against us there at the end, and some others that weren’t called that should have been, and I think that is what made the difference.”
Danny Storey once again led the way for the Pioneers, scoring 18 points, handing out a team-high four assists from his post position, and grabbing a game-high 19 rebounds. Kris Hatley added 13 points, and Tony Jones put in 12.
Wayland jumped out to the early lead on two three-pointers by Lee Berend. B.J. Latham gave WBU its largest lead with a basket at the 13 minute mark to make it 15-7, but following a timeout the Stars came roaring back, outscoring the Pioneers 29-12 over the next nine minutes to pull out to a ten point lead.
Latham and Teddy Chambers scored the final four points of the period to pull WBU back to within six, 37-31, at the intermission.
Oklahoma City extended its lead to 15 with just under 11 minutes remaining in the game, but the Pioneers came charging back. With his team ahead 63-55, OCU’s Robert Taylor was charged with a foul and then assessed a technical for arguing the call. Hatley made all four free throw attempts to cut the Star’s lead in half.
After a defensive stop, Storey sank two free throws to make it a three point game, which was as close as WBU could get until Michal Polanowski’s jumper in the lane with 55 seconds left made it 72-70.
The Pioneers were called for a foul on the next possession, and Cameron Gray, who had a game-high 20 points and nine assists, put in both of his shots from the charity stripe to make it a two possession game. WBU was called for an offensive foul the next time down the court, and OCU made one of the two free throws to seal the win.
WBU out-shot the Stars 48 percent to 46 percent, but OCU connected on seven of their 16 three-point attempts, while the Pioneers were just three-of-11 from beyond the arch. Wayland also turned the ball over 18 times.
The Pioneers take on Mid-America Christian University at 4 p.m. on Saturday as part of a homecoming doubleheader with the Flying Queens.
LATE FIRST HALF RALLY SPOILS ROAD TRIP
Alva, Okla.--- The Pioneers jumped out to an early lead Saturday afternoon at Percefull Fieldhouse on the campus of Northwestern Oklahoma State University, but couldn’t sustain the momentum, falling 76-61 to the Rangers on Hall of Fame Day in Alva.
Danny Storey continued his climb up the Wayland career scoring ladder with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field. Kris Hatley had 11 and Michal Polanowski put in 10 points to round out the Pioneers in double figures.
WBU scored the first eight points of the game and held a 10-point advantage with just under six minutes left in the opening period, but NWOSU broke out with an 18-3 run to take a 29-24 halftime lead.
The Rangers maintained the advantage throughout the second half, although the Pioneers managed to pull to within four points, 60-56, with six minutes remaining. NWOSU broke open the game from that point, outscoring the WBU men 16-5 down the stretch.
Storey had a team-high seven rebounds in the game and the Pioneers won the battle of the boards, 36-39, but had 16 turnovers to just 10 by the Rangers.
NWOSU outshot the Pioneers 52 percent to 44 percent from the field, and hit six three-pointers. WBU could put in only two of their long-distance shots.
Despite the loss, the Pioneers (16-9, 12-6) remain in third place in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings, two games behind Southern Nazarene and Oklahoma City, who are tied for first with identical 14-4 conference records. The Stars come to Hutcherson Center this week for a Thursday evening game. SNU visits Plainview next Thursday.
PIONEERS GET BACK ON WINNING TRACK
Edmond, Okla. – The Pioneers of Wayland Baptist got back on the winning track with a 70-65 come-from-behind win over Oklahoma Christian Thursday night.
The win improved the 18th-ranked Pioneers to 16-8 and 12-5 in the Sooner Athletic Conference. The win also snapped OC’s three-game win streak.
Danny Storey continued his hot streak with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Michal Polanowski added 14 points and Lee Berend and Tony Jones had 13 and 10 points respectively.
WBU used an early 7-0 run to take an 11-5 edge. The Eagles got right back in the game from the three-point line, eventually taking a 14-13 advantage.
The Pioneers responded with a 10-2 run, leading 23-16 with just over nine minutes left in the half, but OC trimmed the lead to 25-24 four minutes later.
WBU jumped back out by seven, but the Eagles stormed back with 11 unanswered points to take a 35-31 lead into the break.
Lee Berend’s three-pointer early in the second half cut the lead to 37-36, but seven consecutive OC points have the home squad its biggest lead of the night with just under 17 minutes remaining in the game.
The Pioneers were far from done, however. WBU rattled off a 13-2 run to regain the advantage. Tony Jones scored in the lane with 10:47 on the clock to give the Pioneers’ their first lead since the 2:44 mark of the first half.
A minutes and a half later, the Eagles tied the game back at 49 with a triple from the corner. Another tie and two lead changes followed before WBU used an 11-0 run to assume a 63-53 edge by the 4:00 mark.
OC chipped away over the next minute to cut the deficit to 65-63 with just over a minute remaining, but
Storey got loose on the other end and laid home an uncontested basket to give the Pioneers a 67-63 edge.
Two Oklahoma Christian free throws slimmed WBU’s lead back to two, but Storey connected on 1-of-2 with 25 seconds to put the margin back to three. Two foul shots by Berend after a missed three-pointer by OC’s Kyle Tefft sealed the Pioneer’s five point victory.
The Wayland men shot 55 percent from the field, while holding the Eagles to 41 percent shooting. The Pioneers also faired much better from the free throw line than they did the last time out, connecting on 11 of their 15 attempts at the charity stripe.
MISSED FREE THROWS COST PIONEERS
courtesy of the Plainview Daily Herald
The Wayland Express hit a bit of a speed bump in the form of sloppy ball handling, missed free throws and, most importantly, the Rogers State Hillcats on Saturday.
The No. 14 Pioneers were upset by Rogers State, 66-64, at Hutcherson Center as 22 turnovers and 44 percent free throw shooting proved costly for Wayland in the Sooner Athletic Conference matchup.
Despite an off game, the Pioneers (15-8, 11-5 SAC) still had a shot to win. Trailing by six, 64-58 with just over two minutes left, Wayland got a 3-point from Lee Berend, two free throws by Tyrone Crawford and another by Michal Polanowski to tie it at 64 with 24 seconds left.
Berend then was called for a blocking foul and Bryson Krueger, who led all scorers with 24 points, hit two free throws with 5.4 seconds left. Out of timeouts, a desperation 3-pointer by the Pioneers missed at the buzzer.
“We really hurt ourselves,” Wayland coach Robert Davenport said. “Going 10-of-23 from the free-throw line in a two-point game is going to get you beat you every time. Then we had 22 turnovers.
“Some of that has to go to (Rogers State) because they’re a good team and they caused a lot of those. But we just didn’t do what we needed to do today to win the game. Against good teams you can’t play that way. Hopefully, we learn from that.”
It was the second straight Saturday for Rogers State to knock off a ranked team. A week earlier, the Hillcats took down No. 9 Oklahoma Baptist.
Danny Storey led Wayland with 17 points and 11 rebounds followed by Crawford with 15 points, Berend with 13 and Jason Griffin with 11. The rest of the team combined for eight points. Krueger was the only Hillcat to reach double figures.
The Pioneers shot 56 percent (14-of-25) in the second half and 48 percent (24-of-50) for the game, including 6-of-15 from 3-point land. Rogers State, meanwhile, was hot in the first half, hitting 17-of-34 shots (50 percent) before cooling off in the final 20 minutes and shooting 9-of-27 (33 percent).
Still, it were the missed free throws and turnovers that ultimately got the Pioneers in trouble.
“I’m proud of my guys for fighting, but the value of the ball has to be important, and it wasn’t, and that’s what happens,” Davenport said of the turnovers.
Rogers State scored the final five points of the first half to take a 41-34 lead at intermission. Wayland fought back to take a 49-48 lead on a bucket by Teddy Chambers with 13:29 left, but Rogers State answered almost immediately with a 3-pointer by James Coats. A jumper by Griffin knotted things up at 53 with 9:04 showing on the clock, but again the Hillcats answered, this time with six straight points as part of a 9-2 run that put the Pioneers in a seven-point hole, 62-55, with just under six minutes to go.
Next up for Wayland are the final two road games of the regular season, at Edmond against Oklahoma Christian on Thursday then at Alva against Northwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday. After that it’s back home for the final four games against Oklahoma City, Mid-America Christian, Southern Nazarene and USAO prior to the SAC Tournament.
“We’ve got six more games, four at home,” Davenport said. “We just have to finish strong.”
PIONEERS MAKE IT NINE STRAIGHT AT HOME
Danny Storey picked up his 13th double-double of the season and the 14th-ranked Wayland Baptist Pioneers (15-7, 11-4) moved within one game of first place in the Sooner
Athletic Conference with a 67-55 win over John Brown University Thursday evening at Hutcherson Center. First place Oklahoma City University (16-6, 12-3) was upset 85-81 in overtime by Southern Nazarene on Thursday.
Storey had 16 points, 11 rebounds and four steals to lead the Pioneers to their ninth straight win at home. Lee Berend, who was a perfect three-for-three from behind the three-point line, came off the bench to score 11 points and Michal Polanowski put in 10 for the WBU men who were playing without starting point guard Kris Hatley, a senior, who is out with a hip injury. Tyrone Crawford replaced Hatley and was credited with a team-high six assists and three steals.
"Tyrone had a good game," said Pioneer coach Robert Davenport. "With Kris sitting on the bench in street clothes, he came through big for us. He probably would have played all 40 minutes if he hadn't started cramping up at the end, but Tony (Jones) moved over and played the one probably for the first time since he was in junior college, and he did a good job. With Tony, Lee and Jon Hurt in there at the end, we had three guards that could give us the big stops and they did."
The Pioneers led by as much as 12 in the first half of the ball game, but John Brown made a 17-3 run over a five minute period late in the period to take a 30-28 lead. WBU regained the advantage at the half, however, 35-32.
Wayland was up 43-38 early in the second period, but the Golden Eagles responded once again to take a 48-44 lead with just under 11 minutes remaining. Jason Griffin gave the advantage back to the Pioneers with a three-pointer at the 8:27 mark and the home team never trailed again.
Davenport called his team's victory a total team effort and gave a lot of credit to his bench, which scored 19 of its 22 points in the first half.
"John Brown is really a hard team to play against. We tend to struggle against small, quick teams like that, but I knew our bench was deeper and that would give us an advantage.
It was a very physical game with lots of contact and not a lot of fouls called, but our guys persevered.
We shot the ball well the first half, but gave them way too many second chances. They outrebounded us 20-8 in the first half, and had more offensive rebounds than we had total rebounds, but the guys came back and closed that gap.
The big difference was in turnovers. We only had 10 and forced them into twice that number."
The Pioneers, who finished the game shooting 46 percent from the field, converted those 20 JBU turnovers into 28 points, and outscored the Golden Eagles, 30-24 in the paint.
Next up for the WBU men is Rogers State University who will come to Hutcherson Center on Saturday for a 3 p.m. tip-off. The Pioneers escaped Claremore, Okla. with a 71-60 hard-fought victory back in January.
"Rogers State is very talented, probably as talented as Oklahoma City. They're just new to the league, and it takes a while to figure out how to compete in the SAC.
Unfortunately for us, they are starting to figure it out.
It should be a whale of a game. I'm so proud of our guys. They are working their tails off and have earned that #14 ranking. We have a big challenge ahead of us on Saturday, and I encourage anybody who likes a good game of basketball to come out on watch."
#22 PIONEERS UPSET #12 SNU
Bethany, Okla.---In a battle between #22 and #12, the winner is often determined by which team comes out ready to play. On Saturday, it was the 22nd-ranked Pioneers that got off to the fast start, but then they had to hold on for dear life in a 67-62 win over 12th-ranked Southern Nazarene.
“I knew going in it would be a coin toss on whether we could win here,” explained second-year Pioneer Coach Robert Davenport, whose team improved to 14-7 overall and 11-4 in conference and moved back into sole possession of second place in the Sooner Athletic Conference after the big win over the Crimson Storm (15-6, 9-4). “At home, I’m confident that we can beat any team, but it’s a different story on the road. You just have to play it out and see what happens. I think this afternoon we came out ready to win more than they did.”
The Pioneers jumped out to an early 11 point lead after back-to-back baskets by B.J. Latham, followed by a Kris Hatley steal and a dunk by Tony Jones. SNU closed it to one with just under six minutes left in the opening period, but a Jason Griffin three-pointer and a steal and lay-up by Hatley gave WBU a 35-28 halftime advantage.
Griffin started the second half off with two more treys, sandwiched between a jumper by Michal Polanowski, to extend the lead to 43-28. The Pioneers extended that lead to 20 with 14:59 on the clock, but then went on a seven minute scoring drought that finally ended when Lee Berend scored on a backdoor pass from Danny Storey to make it 56-43.
The Storm kept the pressure on, outscoring the Pioneers 15-2 over the next five minutes to tie the game at 58 with 2:55 remaining. Storey put in a bank shot on the Pioneer’s next possession, and Jones followed with a steal and slammed home the dunk to put WBU back up by four. Berend, Tyrone Crawford and Hatley combined to hit five of eight free throws in the final minute to seal the victory.
“Even when we got up by 20, I knew it would be close at the end,” said Davenport. “They are too good of a team to let us blow them out.
“The key was that we kept our composure when they made their run. We kept fighting and clawing. We won the battle of the boards and hit our free throws in the end.
“This is a senior heavy team and you expect those guys to come through and make the plays when you need them and they did. Tony (Jones) had a big game. He had 17 points, and was a game changer, especially defensively. Kris (Hatley) came up with some big steals and did a good job passing the ball around.”
Joining Jones in double figures was Griffin with 14 and Storey with 11. The Pioneers shot 56 percent from the field compared to 45 percent for Southern Nazarene, and out-rebounded the Storm 31-25. Storey and Polanowski each had eight boards for WBU, and Kris Hatley dished out a career-high nine assists.
The Pioneers return home on Thursday to face John Brown University at 8 p.m., and then meet Rogers State University at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
MEN STUMBLE AT USAO
CHICKASHA, OKLA.---Just one day after climbing into the NAIA Top 25 for the first time this season, the #22 Pioneers struggled offensively against the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma Drovers, falling 71-64 in a key Sooner Athletic Conference contest.
The WBU men connected on just one of 13 long distance shots, and were 38 percent from the field for the game.
It was the big men underneath that produced for the Pioneers on Thursday evening with Danny Storey posting a double-double with 20 points and 14 rebounds, and Michal Polanowski contributing 16 points.
Wayland trailed throughout the first half, but never by more than five, and Jason Griffin’s jumper made it a one point game, 31-30, at the break.
Storey, who had just three points in the opening period, responded with 17 second half points, but USAO hit 52 percent of its field goal attempts in the final 20 minutes and put in 10 straight free throws after Lee Berend made it a four-point game with a minute and a half left.
WBU won the rebounding battle, 42-33, but were outscored 40-24 in the paint. The Drover’s 6-9 junior center, Eli Flores, did not score a point in the game and hauled down just two rebounds, but the Houston native came up with six blocked shots.
The road trip doesn’t get any easier for the Pioneers as they face Southern Nazarene University on Saturday afternoon in Bethany, Okla. The SNU men are ranked #12 in the NAIA with a record of 15-5 and 9-3. The Crimson Storm are alone in second place in the SAC, one game ahead of the Pioneers who are now 13-7 and 9-4.
PIONEERS BREAK INTO TOP 25
The Pioneers have moved into the NAIA's Top 25 for the first time this season following last week's 3-0 record. Among the wins was a 65-63 overtime defeat of sixth-ranked Oklahoma Baptist.
The WBU men have steadily climbed in the "received votes" category of the NAIA Coaches Poll the past several weeks. This week they finally broke into the top 25 with a 22nd ranking.
WBU HANDS LCU ITS FIRST HOME LOSS
Lubbock Christian’s Bernardo Rocha missed a shot underneath the basket with two seconds left giving the Wayland Baptist University Pioneers a 70-69 win Monday night at Rip Griffin Center.
The Pioneers hit on six of their eight three-point attempts in the first half to climb out to a 40-30 lead at the break. WBU increased the ten point advantage to 13 early in the second period, but the Chaps fought back.
Freshman forward Kenny Hewitt scored nine consecutive LCU points and Tyler Hill hit a three-pointer with 4:30 remaining to tie the game at 61. Danny Storey hit a jumper in the paint to put the Pioneers back in the lead with just over four minutes on the clock, and then Lee Berend hit two free throws to make it a four point game at the 2:41 mark.
The teams traded baskets on each of their next two possessions. With his team down by four, Hewitt hit a three-pointer with 1:27 left to make it 69-68 Wayland. The Pioneer’s Tony Jones was fouled on the next trip down the court, and the senior sank the second of his two free throws to put WBU back up by two.
Hewitt missed a chance to tie the score with 43 seconds remaining when he missed the second of two free throw attempts. Storey grabbed the rebound and the Pioneers were able to work the clock down to ten, but turned the ball over when Rocha anticipated a pass inside to Storey.
The Chaps moved the ball down the court and fed the pass inside to Rocha just outside the left box, but the 6’9 senior forward couldn’t make the shot and the Pioneers grabbed the loose ball.
Storey scored 17 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the Pioneers. Hatley was the only other WBU player in double figures with 11 points. The senior point guard also had a team-high four assists.
The Wayland men had a clear rebounding advantage in the game, 40-23, but turned the ball over 20 times, compared to LCU which recorded just 12 turnovers.
“We definitely tried to give the game away,” said a relieved Robert Davenport after his team’s narrow victory. “You’ve got to give them credit. They came back and hit some big shots late. We’re not used to seeing big guys that can shoot that well from the perimeter, and our big guys had trouble getting out their to defend against that shot and that allowed them to get back in it.
“We shot the ball well when we got the shots, but they played really good defense and didn’t give us a whole lot of good looks.”
The Pioneers shot just 41 percent from the field in the second half, but capitalized late in the game on their free throws, hitting 10 of 11 attempts, a huge turnaround from the first half when they hit just two of nine from the charity stripe.
The loss was the first of the season for the Chaps on their home court. The win gives WBU sole possession of second place in the conference with a record of 9-3 and 13-6 overall. The Chaps fall to 11-8 and 5-7.
PIONEERS WIN A NAILBITER
by Kevin Lewis, Plainview Daily Herald
The Oklahoma Baptist Bison came to Texas on Thursday with a No. 6 ranking.
They went home with two losses.
Two days after Lubbock Christian knocked off the Bison in overtime, the Pioneers seconded the motion Saturday afternoon in Hutcherson Center, winning 65-63, also in overtime.
“The kids just kept after it,” Wayland coach Robert Davenport, who graduated from Oklahoma Baptist, said. “That’s what they’ve done all year.”
Wayland won an ugly overtime — the teams combined to make just 2-of-18 field goals — to come out on top as the Pioneers outscored the Bison in the five extra minutes, 4-2.
“It was a hard-fought game. We really had to focus down the stretch,” said Pioneer Danny Storey, who led the way for Wayland with 20 points and 12 rebounds.
“It got kind of sloppy on both sides.”
After a putback bucket by OBU’s Al Moore with less than a second to go forced overtime tied at 61, the teams took turns missing shots until the Bison scored their only bucket of OT on a jumper by Brent Jones with three minutes to go.
A minute later, Kris Hatley scored Wayland’s first points of the extra session to make for the contest’s 11th — and final — tie. Pioneer Michael Polanowski was fouled after a defensive rebound and hit one of his two free throws with 23 seconds left.
OBU’s Brian Hill missed a jumper then, after the Bison rebounded, Evan Grace missed a 3-pointer with three seconds left. Lee Berend got the big rebound for Wayland, was fouled, and added another free throw for the final margin.
The Bison tried a long pass that was intercepted at the buzzer by Tony Jones.
“Once we got into overtime I felt like we were going to win it because of our depth,” Davenport said.
OBU went 1-for-12 from the field in overtime while Wayland was 1-of-6. While only seven Bison saw any appreciable playing time, 11 Pioneers saw action.
“OBU had an overtime game on Thursday, so they may have been a little fatigued from that,” Storey said. “We haven’t played an overtime game all season. You can’t replicate that (in practice.)
“It feels great.”
It’s the second SAC home win for Wayland over a Top 25 team. The Pioneers beat then No. 21 Northwestern Oklahoma State on Jan. 10, 59-56.
“The kids played hard,” Davenport said. “We’re 100 percent better than we were at the beginning of the year.”
In addition to Storey’s double-double, Jones was the only other Pioneer to score in double figures with 13. Tyrone Crawford ended with nine and Polanowski eight.
Hill led OBU with 16 points. Brent Jones and Moore got a dozen each and Grace added 10.
The Pioneers won’t be able to enjoy the win long as they playat 8 p.m. Monday at Lubbock Christian, which beat OBU on Thursday in overtime, 69-65.
Davenport said Monday’s meeting against the rival Chaps will “be a dogfight.”
“Our guys are excited about that,” the coach said. “It’s going to be a fun night.”
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED... PART ONE
The Pioneer basketball team had a mission going into last night’s Sooner Athletic Conference game against St. Gregory’s University. The Pioneers lost to the Cavaliers on two last second free throws in the first meeting of the season between the two teams, and Coach Robert Davenport’s team wanted to show that the better team did not win that December game. Mission accomplished… and by a score of 89-75.
“Our guys felt like they had a little something to prove tonight (Thursday),” said Davenport after the game. “We didn’t play a very good game up there, and the guys wanted to show they were better than that.
“The big key for us was getting off to a good start. We shot the ball well tonight. It was a physical game, and I was proud that we maintained our composure.
“We changed our defensive strategy a little bit, pressuring the outside and trying to force turnovers. That resulted in quite a few lay-ups for them, but we were able to limit the offensive boards, which is something we didn’t do up there, and that made a big difference.
WBU Senior forward Tony Jones had a career high 19 points in the game and dished out five assists. Jones and junior wing Lee Berend, who finished with nine points, were both a perfect three-for-three from beyond the arch. Michal Polanowski contributed 14, and Danny Storey, who was held scoreless in the first half, came back to score 12 points in the final period to go with his 12 rebounds.
The Pioneers took a 46-32 lead into the dressing room at the intermission after shooting 59 percent from the field, including eight-of-11 from the three-point line.
After Jason Griffin’s jumper to start the second half, Storey scored six straight as part of a 12-3 run to increase the margin to 23. The Cavaliers (7-10, 5-5) never got any closer than 15 the remainder of the game.
The Pioneers, who finished the game shooting 55 percent from the field, won the battle of the boards, 38-23, and converted 16 offensive rebounds into 19 second chance points. WBU also scored 24 points off of 13 St. Gregory’s turnovers.
Davenport’s team (11-6, 7-3) is now in a three-way tie for second place in the SAC following the win. One of the teams the Pioneers are tied with is sixth-ranked Oklahoma Baptist, which lost in overtime last night to Lubbock Christian.
WBU hosts the Bison (15-3, 7-3) in a 3 p.m. tip-off on Saturday. OBU defeated Wayland 66-62 in the first meeting.
Davenport said that he expects Saturday’s game to be a battle.
“They are a very good team, as their record indicates, but we feel that we should have won the game at OBU, and I think the guys will be ready to play on Saturday.”
WIN STREAK STOPPED AT SEVEN
Kevin Lewis, Plainview Daily Herald
The Pioneers saw their seven game win streak snapped Saturday afternoon at Abe Lemons Arena by the #19 Stars of Oklahoma City by a score of 74-63.
The game was much closer than the final indicated, however, as the score was tied at 58-all with just under four minutes left. But OCU (11-5, 7-2) scored eight straight points then, after Wayland (10-6, 6-3) closed it back down to 68-63 with 30 seconds left, the Stars scored the final six points of the game.
OCU outscored Wayland 16-5 in the final 3:57. In the second half, the Stars hit 25-of-28 free throws.
“Our guys played hard but couldn’t overcome bad coaching,” Wayland coach Robert Davenport said. “I didn’t put them in position to win (although) some of that goes to Oklahoma City.”
Jason Griffin and Kris Hatley led Wayland with 14 and 13 points, respectively, while Tony Jones had 10 points and 11 rebounds. Danny Storey just missed a double-double with nine points and 18 boards.
The Pioneers outrebounded OCU 49-35 but turned the ball over 23 times. The Stars shot just 1-of-15 from 3-point range but were 27-of-35 from the free-throw line compared to WBU’s 7-of-13.
Five Stars scored in double figures, led by Ollie Bailey’s 18.
Davenport said the game contained some questionable calls on both ends.
“In a couple of weeks we get them back at our place,” he said. “I think we’ll be ready for them.”
Wayland returns home this week, hosting St. Gregory’s on Thursday night and Oklahoma Baptist on Saturday afternoon.
PIONEERS MOVE INTO FIRST PLACE TIE
Oklahoma City, Okla.---The Pioneers rolled over the Evangels of Mid-America Christian University, 72-36, Thursday evening. It was their seventh consecutive win and put the WBU men into a four-way tie for first place in the Sooner Athletic Conference.
Danny Storey was the only player for either team to score in double figures with 14 points. The senior from Canyon, who is third in NAIA rebounding with an average of just over 10 a contest, also pulled down a game-high 14 boards.
Tony Jones and Teddy Chambers each had nine points, and Tyrone Crawford had eight points and five assists for WBU, which improved to 10-5 overall and 6-2 in conference play.
The game was close early, but after Lee Berend’s three-pointer broke a 9-9 tie, WBU went on a 28-9 run to end the first half. The Pioneers scored the first bucket of the second period to extend the lead to 20, and the Evangels never challenged.
The Pioneer defense is allowing its opponents to shoot just 37.5 percent from the field, a figure which is second best in the NAIA. Thursday night’s contest at Mid-America Christian did nothing to hurt that ranking. The Evangels shot just 21.7 percent. It was the third consecutive game that the Pioneers have held their opponents to under 35 percent shooting.
MACU won the battle of the boards, 47-41, but Wayland forced 24 turnovers and came up with ten steals, led by Jason Griffin and Storey who had three each.
The Wayland men, who received 21 votes in this week's NAIA Coaches Poll will face stiff competition on Saturday afternoon when they travel across town to take on the Stars of Oklahoma City University. The defending NAIA champions are ranked 19th with a 10-5 overall mark and a 6-2 SAC record.
STOREY NAMED SAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
WBU senior Danny Storey has been named Sooner Athletic Conference Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 7-13.
The 6'7 post from Canyon averaged 18.5 points and 10 rebounds in the Pioneer's two wins last week against #22 Northwestern Oklahoma State and Oklahoma Christian University.
Storey hit 67 percent of his shots (14-of-21) from the field and 82 percent of his free throws (9-of-11) in helping the WBU men extend their win streak to six games.
MAKE IT SIX STRAIGHT FOR THE PIONEERS
Danny Storey and Tony Jones each recorded double-doubles and the Pioneers of Wayland Baptist won their sixth straight Saturday afternoon at Hutcherson Center with a 71-61 decision over Oklahoma Christian.
The WBU men have now won five consecutive Sooner Athletic Conference games. The last time a Pioneer team went on that kind of streak was the 2002-03 season when the team went 13-5 in SAC play and advanced to the second round of the NAIA tournament.
“Oklahoma Christian is a tough team to play against,” explained a relieved Robert Davenport following his team’s hard fought ten-point victory. “They run that half court trap that is hard to prepare for unless you practice against it every day, and we just had the one day.
I think we did a pretty good job of getting ready for it, despite the short prep time. We had 20 turnovers, but honestly that’s about what I expected against a team like that.
We finally used our athleticism to take control of the game. They went into a bit of a slump about midway through the second half, and we hit some good shots and got some lucky bounces. We turned the ball over a lot less down the stretch, and we hit our free throws at the end. Those things allowed us to get away with the ‘W’.”
Storey led the way with a game-high 22 points and 11 rebounds, while fellow senior Jones contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Lee Berend came off the bench to score ten for the Pioneers, who improved their record to 9-5 overall and 5-2 in conference.
Oklahoma Christian took their biggest lead of the game, eight, late in the first half, but Wayland scored the final eight points of the period to tie it at 34 at the intermission.
The Eagles jumped out to a 43-36 lead to start the final period, but the Pioneers scored seven straight to tie it back up at 43 with 14:52 on the clock.
Wayland went on a 12-0 run with just under 13 minutes to go to pull ahead 59-48. Storey’s jumper in the paint with 2:29 remaining made it 63-52, and Oklahoma Christian sent the Pioneers to the free throw line the rest of the game where they made the most of their opportunities, knocking down eight of their ten attempts.
The Pioneers ended up shooting 50 percent from the field. For the second straight contest, the WBU defense held an opponent to under 35 percent shooting. OC finished the game just 23-67 (34.3%) from the field, including 27.6 percent from beyond the arch.
WBU out-rebounded the Eagles 43-31 and recorded nine steals. Tyrone Crawford was the leading thief with three steals, to go along with his team-high five assists.
“It was a total team effort,” added Davenport. “I couldn’t be more proud. Everybody made a contribution, and we found a way to win.”
PIONEERS HOLD ON TO DEFEAT NWOSU
Kris Hatley made two free throws with three seconds left and the Pioneers survived a near-miss at the buzzer to defeat Northwestern Oklahoma State 59-56 Thursday night at Hutcherson Center.
Danny Storey and Hatley led the way for the WBU men with 15 and 10 points respectively, and the Pioneers got big contributions from their bench to improve their record to 8-5 and 4-2 in Sooner Athletic Conference play.
WBU started out slow, falling behind by six points in the first three minutes of the game, but fought back to take a 28-25 halftime lead.
"Our starters were standing back at the beginning of the game, waiting to see what they [Northwestern] would do," explained Wayland coach Robert Davenport, "so I put in a new group and that seemed to wake everybody up.
"Our bench really carried us tonight. It was a total team effort."
All put one of the ten Pioneer players to play scored in the game. Tony Jones had eight points off the bench, and Tyrone Crawford came in and put in six points.
"Tyrone had a big game both offensively and defensively. Desmond [Dickson] and Teddy [Chambers] both came in and did a good job defensively. Tony didn't get the start, but he came in and played hard."
The action remained close during the second period. The Pioneers stretched the lead to six right after intermission, but NWOSU came back to grab a three point advantage at the 12:52 mark. Wayland finally took the lead back for good when Crawford penetrated into the lane and hit a short jumper to make it 44-43 with eight minutes on the clock.
The Pioneers went back up by six with just under a minute to go, but Northwestern's Brandon Brown hit a trey with nine seconds left to make the score 57-56. Hatley's free throws made it a three point margin, and Brown's shot at the buzzer just missed sending the game into overtime.
Neither team shot the ball particularly well, not surprising since the game featured two of the nation's stingiest perimeter defenses. Northwestern shot just 33 percent from the field and was limited to just five three-pointers in 21 attempts, while WBU managed only two treys in 11 attempts.
The Pioneers, who are second in the conference in shooting, were held to 35 percent from the field in the first period, but managed to knock down 55 percent of their shots in the final 20 minutes, although none from outside the arch, to finish at 43 percent for the game.
WBU is back at the Hutch on Saturday afternoon when the Pioneers take on Oklahoma Christian University. OC fell to 5-8 and 2-4 after losing to Lubbock Christian 66-59 on Thursday night.
WAYLAND MEN WIN FOURTH STRAIGHT
SILOAM SPRINGS, ARK.---The Pioneers won their fourth straight and their third consecutive SAC game Saturday afternoon against John Brown University. The WBU men dominated the first half of play and four players scored in double figures in the 71-58 victory.
Junior wing Lee Berend came off the bench to lead the Pioneers with 13 points and seven rebounds. Tony Jones and Michal Polanowski had 12 points each, and Kris Hatley added 10 points to give the WBU men their seven win of the season.
The Pioneer defense held John Brown to just 29 percent shooting from the field and forced 18 turnovers while recording six blocks and nine steals. WBU also outrebounded the Golden Eagles, 42-37.
Danny Storey had a game-high nine rebounds to go along with his nine points, and Polanowski got credit for four blocks. Jon Hurt led Wayland with three steals.
Leading 30-19 at the half, the Pioneers extended the lead to 23 (55-32) on a three pointer by Tyrone Crawford at the 8:39 mark of the second period, but JBU went on a 20-4 run over the next six minutes to close to within 59-52.
Berend took control from that point, scoring seven of the final 12 WBU points, including four straight free throws, to preserve the victory.
The Pioneers (7-5, 3-2) return home next week for two Sooner Athletic Conference match-ups. First up is Northwestern Oklahoma State University on Thursday at 8 p.m. On Saturday, the men host Oklahoma Christian at 3 p.m.
PIONEERS WIN SLUGFEST IN OKLAHOMA
In a game which featured physically aggressive play by both teams, the Pioneers hit 11 straight free throws down the stretch to take a 71-60 win over Rogers State University in Claremore, Okla. on Thursday evening.
Danny Storey had a monster game for the Pioneers, leading all players in the game with 21 points and 18 rebounds. The victory improved the WBU men to 6-5 on the season, and evened their Sooner Athletic Conference record to 2-2.
A total of 55 personal fouls and six tecbnical fouls were called during the game, which also included a player ejection and a five-minute delay when trainers had to mop a blood off the floor after Rogers State's Spencer Schrupp was cut on the forehead.
Wayland went into the lockerroom trailing by one point at the intermission, 30-29, but went on a 9-0 run to start the second half.
Rogers State regained the lead midway through the final period, utilizing a much quicker lineup that featured four guards.
A big three-pointer by WBU's Jon Hurt was the start of a 6-0 run and the Pioneers took the lead for good 54-51 with just under six minutes left in the game.
The Hillcats stayed within four points until Bryson Krueger was called for a charge with 47 seconds left. Both Krueger and RSU coach Wren Baker were assessed technicals on the play, and Kris Hatley made all four free throws to give the Pioneers an eight point advantage.
Hatley finished the game with 12 points, going 10-for-10 from the charity stripe. Tony Jones also had 12 points for Wayland.
The Pioneers finished the game shooting just 42 percent from the field. They were good on three of their five three-point attempts and nailed down 30 of their 39 free throws.
RSU, which had not played a game since Dec. 6, shot 36 percent from the field and were just three of 17 from beyond the arch. The Hillcats hit 68 percent (15-of-22) of their shots from the line.
Wayland had the edge on the boards, 36-25. Neither team had much luck taking care of the ball. WBU recorded 25 turnovers, while Rogers State coughed it up 22 times.
Lee Berend led the Pioneers with three of their seven steals. RSU was credited with 11 steals.
The Hillcats, who lost to top-ranked Oklahoma City by just two points in December, fall to 2-2 in SAC play and 7-3 overall.
The WBU men continue their road trip on Saturday with a 3:00 match-up with John Brown University, 61-57 losers to Lubbock Christian on Thursday. The Golden Eagles are 8-4 on the season and 1-3 in conference play.
GRIFFIN SCORES 21 TO LEAD PIONEERS
Jason Griffin scored 21 points and Tony Jones added a season-high 17 to help lead the Pioneers to a 96-56 win over Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College Saturday afternoon at Hutcherson Center.
The win evened up the Pioneer's record at 5-5 on the season.
A total of 13 players put at least two points on the board for Coach Robert Davenport's Pioneers. Joining Griffin and Jones in double figures was Desmond Dickson with 10. Michal Polanowski had eight points, as did Teddy Chambers. Kris Hatley added seven and had a game-high five assists.
WBU shot 61 percent from the field and went 8-of-16 from behind the arch. The Pioneers outscored the undersized Saints 46-16 in the paint and won the battle of the boards 39-26. Chambers led the way with seven rebounds.
The Wayland men turned the ball over just 12 times in the game, and were credited with nine steals. Hillsdale, which is 3-14 on the season, committed 21 turnovers, which the Pioneers converted into 28 points.
The game was the final non-conference matchup for the WBU men who resume Sooner Athletic Conference play on Thursday when they travel to Claremore, Okla. to face newcomer Rogers State University.
PIONEERS COME FROM BEHIND FOR WIN
Lee Berend hits a big three-pointer with "blacked out"
WBU fans looking on.
The Pioneers got clutch free throw shooting down the stretch to pull out a 70-64 come-from-behind victory over Lubbock Christian on "Black Out Night" at the Hutch.
"It feels great to get the win," said senior point guard Kris Hatley, who had a team-high 13 points and hit seven of his eight attempts from the charity stripe during the game, including four in the final 32 seconds. "Now we know what we have to do to win a conference game and we'll be ready."
WBU coach Robert Davenport gave a lot of credit for his team's big win to the crowd.
"That was a great student section we had tonight, and a very good crowd. They really gave our guys a boost.
One thing you can say about the series between these two teams... regardless of the records or how the teams are playing, anything can happen when we meet."
The first half was a back-and-forth affair with five ties and nine lead changes. The Pioneers jumped out to a seven point lead when Tyrone Crawford hit a three-pointer to make the score 18-11 with 12:07 on the clock, but the Chaparrals scored eight straight over the next two minutes.
The Chaps, who were up 36-33 at the intermission, grabbed their largest lead of the game at the 16:00 mark of the second half.
WBU stayed within striking distance from that point, but finally whittled the lead down to one when Jon Hurt hit a three with 4:12 remaining.
After two free throws by LCU's Jacob Klockenga put the Chaps back up by three, Hatley made it 62-61 when he hit two from the line.
Danny Storey, who got another double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, gave the Pioneers their first lead of the second half on a hook shot from just outside the paint on the right side at the 2:37 mark.
Klockenga missed the front end of a one-and-one on LCU's next possession and Jon Hurt was fouled on the rebound. Hurt made both his attempts to give Wayland a three-point margin, and then Hatley hit four straight to ice the game.
"I was wondering there for a little bit," said Davenport. "We won by playing hard and showing a lot of heart.
"Our bench did an outstanding job tonight. They stepped up and proved that they deserved to get on the floor. Our starters weren't playing well in the second half and the bench came in and had that little run that got us back into it."
The Pioneers, now 4-5 and 1-2, have a week off to take finals, and then return to action next Saturday, Dec. 15, when they travel to Waco for an exhibition game against the Bears of Baylor University. That game is set to start at 8 p.m.
WBU MEN LOSE A TIGHT ONE
Shawnee, Okla.---Jason Griffin hit a three-pointer with four seconds left to tie the game, but St. Gregory's Ryan Wilson knocked down two free throws with 1.8 ticks left on the clock to give the Cavaliers a 79-77 win over the Pioneers.
Griffin had 18 points and Danny Storey put in 19 for the Wayland men, but SGU won the battle of the boards and turned the ball over just six times, none in the second half, to win its second straight Sooner Athletic Conference contest. The Pioneers fall to 3-5 and 0-2.
WBU led by as many as 12 points in the first half, but St. Greg's went on a 16-5 run to end the period. Jon Hurt's two free throws with under ten seconds remaining gave the Pioneers a 40-39 lead at the intermission.
"We're weren't clicking offensively in the first half, but were ahead," said Wayland coach Robert Davenport after the game. "I reamed them pretty good in the lockerroom and I wish now that I hadn't done that, because it seemed to change the way we were playing. Sometimes you have to leave them alone and let them play through it."
The Cavaliers took the lead early in the second half, but the Pioneers managed to stay within four to six points, until Kris Hatley converted a three-point play with less than two minutes on the clock to make it a 75-74 game.
WBU made a big defensive stop the next time down the court, but on the offensive end Tony Jones was called for a charge when he went up high to receive an alley-oop pass.
Wilson, who scored 15 of his team-high 17 points in the second half, made a jumper to give SGU the 77-74 advantage.
After Davenport called a timeout with 23 seconds left, the Pioneers worked the ball to Griffin who nailed his fourth three pointer of the game to tie it up.
It looked like the contest would go to overtime, but Hatley was called for the foul on Wilson and the sophomore guard nailed both shots.
"We fought back and I felt we had a chance there at the end, but it just didn't happen," Davenport added. "The guys played hard. We have so much more talent than we did last year, and we're playing a lot better than we did earlier in the season.
With all the new faces that we have, we're not where we want to be yet, and we're already playing in the games that count. Everybody else in the conference is in the same boat, though. I honestly believe that somebody with a record like 14-8 will win the conference this year, so we're not out of anything yet."
The Pioneers shot 54 percent from the field and hit 8-of-15 three pointers, while the Cavaliers connected on just four of 15 shots from beyond the arch and shot 45 percent from the field.
Michal Polanowski was the only other Pioneer to score in double figures. The senior put in 10 points, six of which came during a stretch late in the second half.
Next up for the Pioneers is a game against arch-rival Lubbock Christian on Thursday at Hutcherson Center.
"I'm looking forward to that one," said Davenport. "We don't have to worry about getting the team fired up for them, and I'm sure they will be ready to play as well. It's always a lot of fun when you get our two teams together."
PIONEERS FALL AT OBU
Shawnee, Okla.---Senior point guard Kris Hatley got a season-high 17 points, but the Pioneers were just 17-of-27 from the free throw line in a 66-62 loss Thursday evening at Oklahoma Baptist. Danny Storey recorded a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds, and Lee Berend also scored 10.
The WBU men led by just two at the half, 32-30, despite a poor shooting performance by the Bison. OBU shot just 21 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes of the game, but hit 15-of-18 free throws to keep the score close.
In the second half, a lay-up by Hatley put WBU up by three with 16:25 remaining in the game, but the Bison went on a 10-0 run over the next two and a half minutes to pull ahead 45-38.
The Pioneers tied the game up on three separate occasions after that, but could never recapture the lead.
With just under one minute to play, Wayland again trailed by seven, but Hatley and Michal Polanowski hit four free throws down the stretch to make it a one possession game with 22 seconds left. After a WBU foul, Evan Grace hit one of two from the line for OBU to pull his team back up by four. Hatley took the ball the length of the court for a lay-up to make it 64-62 with 11 seconds remaining, but Grace was sent back to the line where he nailed both shots for the final margin of victory.
The Pioneers outrebounded the Bison 45-39 in the game and got 21 points from the bench. Oklahoma Baptist's bench contributed just 11 points.
The difference in the game came at the line, where OBU hit 77.4 percent (24-of-31), and in the turnover department. The Bison converted 23 Pioneer turnovers into 32 points, while Wayland got just 10 points off of 17 Bison turnovers.
The Pioneers get another chance to pick up their first conference win on Saturday when they take on St. Gregory's at 3 p.m. The Cavaliers defeated Lubbock Christian, 70-57, in their SAC opener.
WOOLDRIDGE ACCEPTS NEW POSITION
Quinn Wooldridge, the Pioneer’s assistant basketball coach for the past year and a half, will be leaving Wayland on January 1 to become the first-ever head men’s basketball coach at College of the Southwest, located in Hobbs, NM. CSW, a member of the NAIA’s Red River Athletic Conference, will begin playing men and women’s basketball during the 2008-09 school year.
Robert Davenport, head coach at WBU, says that although Wooldridge’s departure will leave a void in the Pioneer program, he is excited about the opportunity the move represents for Wooldridge and his family.
“Quinn has earned the opportunity to be a head coach by how hard he has worked and the things he contributed to not only the Pioneer program, but to other programs that he has been associated with. College of the Southwest has hired a terrific young coach who will do a great job winning games and representing their institution. Obviously, we hate to see Quinn go and he will leave a void in our program but he needs to move on to further his career. Also, I think it says a lot about the strength of our program because other schools are hiring our assistants. Quinn has been a big part of building our program.”
Wooldridge came to Wayland prior to the 2006-07 season from Eastern Oklahoma State College where he was the assistant men’s coach. A former All-Sooner Athletic Conference player and 1999 graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University, Wooldridge is the #3 scorer in Bison history with 1,885 points. He holds OBU season and career records for most three-pointers made and attempted.
PIONEERS DEFEAT WTA&MU
The Wayland Baptist Pioneers used an 18-2 run in the second half to defeat the Buffaloes of West Texas A&M by a score of 86-72 Tuesday evening at Hutcherson Center.
It was the first-ever Wayland win over a Buffalo team. There have been only five meetings between the two schools.
Jason Griffin had 23 points to lead the Pioneers. Michal Polanowski put in 16, and Danny Storey added 15.
Storey became the 37th player in Pioneer history to reach the 1,000-point plateau in the game. The 6’7 senior from Canyon has 1,012 points so far in his four-year career at Wayland.
"I just feel so honored," said Storey after the game. "I never thought of myself as much of a scorer. I've been blessed with a lot of good teammates over the years, and they get a lot of credit for all those points."
West Texas A&M scored on its first possession of the game on a shot in the paint by Pierre Barlow. Three minutes later the Pioneers got their first points on a three by Griffin, the first of five put down by the sophomore transfer from Clarendon College.
The teams basically traded baskets for the first ten minutes of the period, until Griffin hit back-to-back treys to put WBU up by five at the 9:16 mark.
The Buffaloes managed to work it back down to one, but the Pioneers went on a 10-4 run, highlighted by a monster slam by Tony Jones to give WBU a 37-30 advantage with 3:28 on the clock.
WT answered with an 11-2 run to end the half. Clint McFall scored the last five points in the run, including a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Buffs a 41-39 lead at the intermission.
Both teams shot the ball well in that first 20 minutes. WBU hit 59 percent of its shots from the field, while WT put down 52 percent. The Buffaloes were 6-of-10 from behind the arch, compared to 3-of-7 by Wayland.
The second half began in much the same way as the first. The score stayed close until the midway point of the period when the Pioneers got red hot and the Buffaloes went ice cold.
WBU exploded over the next six and a half minutes with an 18-2 run which began with a dunk by Polanowski and ended with another three-pointer by Griffin, who contributed seven points during the run.
The Pioneers improved their shooting percentage in the final period to 62.5 percent, but the visitors from Canyon were of 11-of-36 from the field (30.6%) and 0-for-8 from long distance.
West Texas had the distinct edge from the free throw line, missing just two of its 16 attempts from the charity stripe. WBU, on the other hand, hit just 17-of-24 from the line.
The Buffaloes had a slight edge on the boards, 33-32, but the Pioneers outscored their opponent 50-38 in the paint and converted 18 WT turnovers into 25 points. West Texas scored 17 points off 17 Wayland turnovers.
There were seven ties in the game and 19 lead changes.
Five WTA&M players hit the double-digit mark in scoring, led by Robert Lee with 14. Tyler Cooper, son of former Pioneer and current West Texas A&M coach Rick Cooper, had 12 points, as did Chris Hinz.
The Pioneers, 3-3 on the season, now have nine days off to prepare for Sooner Athletic Conference play which begins next Thursday on the road at Oklahoma Baptist University.
BENTON HITS MILESTONE
Matt Benton, a senior on the Pioneer junior varsity team, recently scored the 500th point of his career at Wayland.
A four-year member of the Pioneer JV, Benton set the mark in last Tuesday's game against South Plains College. A graduate of Trinity Fellowship High School in Amarillo, Benton now has 504 points in his career with four games left.
The Pioneer JV program plays a 10-15 game schedule each year.
WBU MEN STRUGGLE ON ROAD
Columbia, Ken.---The Pioneer basketball team lost two games at the Lindsey Wilson Classic in Kentucky over the weekend. On Friday evening, the Pioneers fell to Campbellsville University, 81-40. Against Lindsey Wilson College on Saturday, Wayland played better but still got the loss, 87-78.
Against Campbellsville, the Pioneers went 4-of-21 in the first half from the field, scoring just 15 points. Although things went a little better in the final 20 minutes, WBU ended the game 14-of-47 from the field (.298) and 13-of-25 (.520) from the free throw line.
Senior post Michal Polanowski came off the bench to lead the team in scoring with nine points, Tony Jones had eight to go along with six rebounds. Wayland also committed 23 turnovers in the game.
On Saturday, the score was tied at 37 at the intermission, but Lindsey Wilson outscored the Pioneers 50-41 in the second half for the victory. Jason Griffin had 18 points to lead WBU. Danny Storey and Jones put in 14 points each, and Storey pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
The Pioneers hit 24 of their 58 shots from the field (.414), a vast improvement from the night before, and hit 56 percent (9-of-16) of their three-point attempts. Griffin was five of ten from behind the arch. Wayland turned the ball over just 15 times in the game, while forcing LWC into 17 turnovers.
Lindsey Wilson hit on 57 percent of their field goals, but was just 2-of-10 from the three-point line. The Blue Raiders had 39 attempts from the charity stripe, hitting 31 of them, compared to 32 for the Pioneers, who hit just 21.
Wayland, which falls to 2-3 on the season, travels to Wichita Falls on Tuesday for an exhibition game against Midwestern State University. The Pioneers do not play at home again until Nov. 20 when they take on West Texas A&M University.
PIONEERS SET RECORD IN WIN
In a game featuring highlight reel dunks and soaring three-pointers, the Pioneers defeated Barclay College, 121-38, to pick up their second win of the season this evening at Hutcherson Center. The 83-point margin of victory set a new WBU school record. The previous record was 78 set in 1984 against the University of Dallas.
Barclay College, a small, private school located in south central Kansas, jumped out to a 7-4 lead on a three-pointer by Keith Reeser with just over three minutes gone in the game. The three-pointer seemed to jump start the Pioneers, who went on a 45-4 run over the next 13 minutes.
WBU ended the first half with a 57-15 lead. The team shot 68 percent from the field, mostly from inside the paint, but also hit three of the five three-pointers attempted.
The second half was more of the same. The Pioneers shot 65 percent from the field, hitting 6-of-9 long distance shots.
Coach Robert Davenport was pleased with his team's effort.
"We worked hard and shot the ball well. I was glad that everybody got a chance to play."
The Pioneers got scoring from 16 different players with 68 of the 121 points coming off the bench.
WBU's Tony Jones started the game off with a spectacular dunk, one of five that the senior transfer from Idaho State University put down during the contest. Senior post Michal Polanowski had three dunks himself, two coming off alley-oop passes by Lee Berend.
Sophomore Jason Griffin, who continued with his torrid long distance shooting, hitting 6-of-8 from behind the arch, had a game high 22 points. The transfer from Clarendon College is now 15-of-25 for the year from three-point range. Jones put in 15, Desmond Dickson had 12, hitting 6-of-7 from the field, and Jon Hurt put in 10.
Polanowski led the team in rebounding with nine and 5'10 point guard Kris Hatley pulled down seven.
For the game, WBU forced 29 Bear turnovers and was credited with 19 steals. Junior guard Tyrone Crawford came off the bench to commit five of the thefts.
The Pioneers are on the road for the next two weeks, beginning with the Lindsey-Wilson College Classic this weekend in Columbia, Ken. WBU takes on Campbellsville University on Friday at 7 p.m. Saturday afternoon the team will be looking for some revenge when they meet Lindsey Wilson at 4 p.m. LWC defeated the Pioneers last year in the Lion's Pioneer Classic, 64-53.
PIONEERS SPLIT GAMES IN CLASSIC
The Pioneer basketball team split its two games in the Pioneer classic over the weekend, winning on Friday night against Dallas Christian College 83-54, and then falling to Missouri Baptist 80-77 on Saturday afternoon.
Against Dallas Christian, who played its two games during the classic with only five players, the Pioneers got scoring from 12 different players.
Newcomer Jason Griffin, a sophomore transfer from Clarendon College, led the WBU men with 17 points. Another transfer, senior Tony Jones, had 13, and senior returnee Danny Storey continued his streak of 12 straight double-doubles dating back to last year with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Wayland jumped out to a 39-21 halftime lead on the Crusaders. The team shot 53 percent from the field in the second half, finishing the game with a field goal percentage of 46 percent. Senior point guard passed out a team-high five assists and senior back-up center B.J. Latham was credited with three blocks.
In Saturday afternoon’s game against Missouri Baptist, the Pioneers led at the half 41-34. Griffin had 19 points at the intermission, hitting five of his six three-point attempts, but the Spartans held the sophomore to just three points in the game’s final 20 minutes.
WBU extended its halftime lead to 13 with just over 16 minute remaining, but MBU slowly cut into the lead, led by senior point guard Jason Fry, who finished the game with 27 points.
After the visitors got to within 64-63 at the eight minute mark, Jones and Storey combined to give the Pioneers a six point lead, but both of those players fouled out shortly thereafter and MBU outscored the WBU men 14-5 over the final 5:50 of the game to take the three-point victory.
Missouri Baptist (2-0) also came from behind on Friday against Lubbock Christian (1-1) to win that contest, 83-78.
Griffin and Storey were the only Pioneers to score in double figures with 22 points each. Storey got his 13th consecutive double-double with a game-high16 rebounds and Hatley dished out six assists.
The Pioneers are back in action at Hutcherson Center on Tuesday night with a 6:00 game against Barclay College.
2007-08 SEASON TIPS OFF THIS WEEKEND
After struggling to a 13-16 record a year ago, including a 6-12 mark to finish in the second division of the Sooner Athletic Conference, things are looking up for the Wayland Pioneers.
Second-year coach Robert Davenport has six players back – including two starters – and has brought in some talented recruits to help turn things around for the 2007-08 season, which opens this weekend at home with the Pioneer Classic. WBU, Dallas Christian College, Missouri Baptist University and Lubbock Christian are the four teams participating in the classic.
The Wayland opener is Friday evening against Dallas Christian at 8 p.m. DCC is a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association. The Crusaders opened their season last Saturday with a 101-61 loss at Southwestern Assemblies of God University.
On Saturday at 2 p.m., the Pioneers will take on Missouri Baptist University, a NAIA Division I school located in St. Louis. The Spartans, 14-14 a year ago, are coached by Ray Farrell, who worked with Davenport when they were both assistants at Colin County Community College.
“Ray and I are good friends. His team is not very big, but they are very athletic and shoot the ball well,” says Davenport. “We don’t want to get into a running game with them. We’ll try and pound it to our big guys inside and make them play at a slower tempo.
“I don’t know a whole lot about Dallas Christian. We’re hoping to get some film on them before the game on Friday.”
One of Davenport’s main challenges this season is finding someone to take up the slack created by the graduation of point guard Kendall Webb, who was the 2006-07 SAC Player of the Year and earned first-team All-American honors. Webb led the conference in scoring with a 22.7 average, and became the all-time leading WBU scorer with 2,074 career points.
“I think we were one strong offensive player away from being a very solid team last year,” said Davenport, a former Oklahoma Baptist standout who spent eight years at UT-Pan American, the last three as head coach.
“This year, we’ll have more depth, size, speed and athleticism.”
The Pioneers were outscored by only .3 of a point a year ago and out-rebounded their opponents by six boards a game, but it was turnovers that killed the team last season.
“I think we’ll handle the ball a lot better this year. We had 100 more turnovers than our opponents last year.”
Returning starter Danny Storey, a 6-7, 245-pound senior post who earned 3rd team All-Conference honors, averaged 16.8 points and 10.5 points a game last year, the only SAC player with a double-double average. He led the nation in defensive rebounding a year ago and was fourth in NAIA total rebounds.
Also providing muscle inside is 6-9, 245-pound senior Michal Polanowski who averaged eight points and four rebounds in an average of 21 minutes a game. The presence of 6-10, 325 pound senior BJ Latham, a transfer from Missouri Baptist, should help greatly on the inside game.
Dependable ball-handler Kris Hatley, a 5-10 senior (5.1 ppg, 2.0 apg), stepped up and worked hard during the summer according to Davenport, and has earned the starting spot at the point guard position. He will be backed up by 5-11 junior Tyrone Crawford (5.0 apg) from Cochise College in Arizona.
Jason Griffin, a 6-2 sophomore transfer who averaged 8.9 points last year at Clarendon College, will be the starter at the shooting guard position. Griffin was among the leaders in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference in three-point shooting.
Another sharpshooter added to Davenport’s arsenal for this season is 6-4 junior Jon Hurt, a transfer from East Central University, who averaged ten points and three rebounds two years ago at East Central Oklahoma College.
Senior Tony Jones averaged eight points, six rebounds and four assists at Hill Junior College during the 2004-05 season before transferring to Idaho State University. The 6-7 wing was heavily recruited out of San Antonio’s Taft High School and will be heavily counted on to add some offensive power to the WBU lineup.
“Tony will cause some tough match-ups at the two position due to his height, athleticism and ball-handling skills,” said Davenport.
Junior returnee Lee Berend (6.4 ppg, 5.0 rpg) who stands at 6-5 and plays with tenacity on the boards and on defense, will be counted on to contribute quality minutes at both the two and the three positions.
Plainview High School fans will surely recognize Davenport’s lone freshman starter. Desmond Dickson, a 6-6 forward, was a three-time District 4-4A Defensive Player of the Year out of Lubbock’s Estacado High School. Coached in high school by two former Pioneer players, Tim Thomas and Tony Wagner, Dickson has an excellent understanding of the game, according to Davenport.
“Desmond is probably our best all-around defender and he really understands how to position himself under the basket.”
Zach TeGrotenhuis, a 6-6 returning senior, will be a valuable inside player off the bench.
Another top recruit, 6-5 sophomore Teddy Chambers, has been out most of the preseason with an injury, but when he is healthy, Davenport says he is very athletic and can shoot the three. Chambers put in six points and hauled down four rebounds a game at Odessa Junior College last season.
Other players wearing a Pioneer uniform in 2007-08 are 6-2 point guard Matt Quinn, a freshman from Frenship, and 6-7 freshman Zac Dayton of Monterey. Merkel’s 6-8 Brandon Mounts and 6-2 Joe Brown of Sugarland are also both freshmen, while 6-4 Tyler Roye of Lubbock’s Coronado High and 6-5 Serbian Og Vlaskalin are juniors.
Defending national champion Oklahoma City is ranked number one in the NAIA preseason ratings and is favored to once again win the league, which has had a team win or make the national finals eight of the last 10 years.
The addition of Rogers State University (out of Claremore, Okla.) and Mid-America Christian University (of Oklahoma City) to the SAC means less time for Davenport to get his troops ready for the nightly battle that is conference play.
“Hands down, this is the toughest conference in the nation,” Davenport said, “and adding those two schools just makes it that much tougher. Before we’ve had six to eight weeks to prepare for conference, now we have four.”
WBU plays two more games at home before opening the SAC season on the road the final weekend of this month. On Tuesday Nov. 6, the Pioneers will take on Barclay College at 6 p.m., and then on Tuesday, Nov. 20, the Buffaloes of West Texas A&M University will make the short road trip to Hutcherson Center for an 8 p.m. tip-off.
Arch-rival Lubbock Christian comes to town for a conference match-up on Thursday, Dec. 6.
Other non-conference games on the Wayland men’s schedule include a tournament in Kentucky hosted by Lindsey Wilson College on Nov. 9 and 10, and exhibition games against Midwestern State University (Nov. 13 at Wichita Falls) and Baylor (Dec. 15 at Waco). The Pioneers conclude the year 2007 with a home contest against Hillsdale Freewill Baptist College on Saturday, Dec. 29.
PIONEERS TAKE GOSPEL AND BASKETBALL TO EUROPE
The Wayland Baptist University Pioneers basketball team took some time out this summer to spread the gospel and the good news of basketball to people in Lithuania and Poland.
Five members of the Pioneers team, Danny Storey, Michal Polanowski, Zach TeGrotenhuis, Lee Berend and Jason Griffin, along with head coach Robert Davenport and assistant coach Quinn Wooldridge, spent the first half of the summer working odd jobs around the community in order to raise money for the trip. With the money raised and the generous donations of people in the community, the Pioneers were able to travel to Europe where they held a week-long basketball camp in Vilnius, Lithuania, the last week of July.
The Pioneers were working with Athletes in Action. The group usually runs two camps in Vilnius each summer. What made the Wayland camp different, however, was that team members accompanied the coaches and worked the camps. Generally, it is usually only coaches who attend the camps.
“We kind of personalized the camp for the kids because our players were there,” Davenport said.
It took the group a little time to adjust to Lithuania’s long summer days. The sun comes up at about 4:30 a.m. and sets around 10:30 p.m. The group reached Vilnius around 11 p.m. on a Sunday night and started the camp at 10 a.m. Monday morning. Davenport said the time difference and jet lag took its toll on the group, but they managed to adjust.
The Pioneers spent several days with the campers teaching them the fundamentals of basketball and sharing their testimonies. Most of the kids spoke fluent English and the ones who didn’t knew enough English to communicate.
“It was really neat to watch the relationships between those kids and our kids,” Davenport said. “It’s just like our camps here, the kids get attached to them. There were about 35 kids in the camp and probably half of them asked us to come back next year.”
After leaving Lithuania, the Pioneers headed to Konin, Poland, hometown of 6-10 junior Michal Polanowski. Davenport said the reception Polanowski received was amazing.
“Little did we know that Mike is a legend in his hometown,” Davenport said. “It is a city of about 100,000 people. Mike is the real deal there. We all thought that was pretty neat, and we gave Mike a hard time about it.”
While the Pioneers enjoyed site seeing and the mountains of food prepared by Polanowski’s parents, Mike was busy conducting newspaper and television interviews with the local media. At one point, Polanowski gave his testimony in Polish for a video that will by used by Athletes in Action throughout Poland.
“It was kind of neat to see things like that,” Davenport said. “We see Mike every day, and Mike is a great guy and does good things, but back in his home country, it’s amazing how big he is and how much of an influence he can really have.”
Davenport said the Pioneers were originally supposed to do more with the Athletes in Action group in Poland, but due to scheduling they weren’t able. However, he said the trip was very successful and he hopes they were able to plant seeds of faith with some of the kids they came in contact with.
“We were able to share the gospel with some kids who may or may not have been able to hear it before,” he said. “The Athletes in Action staff in Lithuania works daily with those kids and will have to follow up with them.”
RECRUITING CLASS OF 2007 FINALIZED
Former Hill College teammates Josh Love and Tony Jones, and Fort Bend Baptist Academy graduate Joe Brown are the final members of the 2007 recruiting class of Coach Robert Davenport and the Wayland Baptist Pioneer coaching staff.
Love, a 6'7 forward, comes to WBU as a two-time All-Conference performer in the North Center Junior College Conference. He had a career average of 20 points and 10 rebounds at Hill and was chosen as MVP of the NJCAA All-Star Classic following his sophomore season.
A graduate of Seattle's Rainier Beach High School who now calls Dallas home, Love began his collegiate career at Eastern Washington University where he spent the 2003-04 season as a redshirt. He comes to the Pioneers with two seasons of eligiblity remaining.
A 6'7 guard/forward, Jones attended Taft High School in San Antonio. He spent the 2004-05 season at Hill where he averaged eight points, six rebounds and four assists playing every position but center. Jones played 13 games during the 2005-06 season at Idaho State University and has one season of eligibility left.
Brown is a 6'3 guard from Sugarland. He was a three-time 1st team TAPPS All-District 4-5A selection and a two-time 1st team TAPPS All-State Class 5A honoree who averaged 20 points during his final two seasons at Ft. Bend Baptist.
The Pioneers have signed 13 new players for the upcoming season; five from the high school ranks, five from junior colleges and three collegiate transfers.
TWO MORE INK WITH PIONEERS
A junior college transfer and a former All-Big Country Super Team player have signed commitments to play for the Wayland Baptist Pioneers beginning with the 2007-08 season.
Teddy Chambers, a 6’5 forward, averaged six points and four rebounds a game as a freshman last season at Odessa College. A graduate of Midland High School where he was a first team All-Permian Basin selection, Chambers put in over 21