Ruben Lopez and Russell Harrison scored 23 points each, and Wayland Baptist held off St. Gregory’s for a 92-87 Sooner Athletic Conference victory Saturday afternoon in Hutcherson Center.
Wayland (16-10, 8-6 SAC) saw its 13-point lead early in the second half reduced to three on three occasions late in the game. Each time the Pioneers responded and held off the tough-to-shake Cavaliers (9-12, 5-9).
The last time St. Greg’s pulled to within three was 88-85 with 46 seconds left. Harrison came up big by driving into the lane and, as the shot clock was winding down, hitting a free-throw line jump shot that made it a five-point game with 20 ticks to go. Then, after Jordan Rutherford missed a 3-pointer for St. Greg’s, Lopez drilled two free throws for Wayland to seal it.
Lopez finished 10-of-10 from the free-throw line as the junior hit a career-high 23 points. He was 5-of-6 from the field, including 3-of-4 from long range. Harrison, a freshman, missed his season-best by two.
Maurice Redmond finished with 16 points and Austin Mansour 12 for Wayland, which shot 61 percent from the floor (30-of-49), 47 percent from 3-point range (9-of-19), and 85 percent (23-of-27) from the foul stripe.
St. Gregory’s, which got 31 points from Jordan Rutherford and 29 from Rodney Smith, shot a respectable 49 percent from the field, matching Wayland’s nine 3-pointers, and 22-of-26 from the stripe.
Wayland held a commanding rebounding edge, 34-18, but also turned it over 21 times, nine more than the Cavaliers. The Pioneers finished with 20 assists, including five apiece from Redmond, Lopez and Julian Pesava.
The Pioneers scored the game’s first 10 points before the Cavaliers got on track. Wayland’s largest lead of the game was 14, 43-29, with just over three minutes left before halftime.
The first time St. Greg’s cut it to three in the second half, 73-70 with 8:00 to play, Harrison and Redmond hit back-to-back 3s for Wayland as part of an 8-0 run. But the Cavs came right back with a 10-2 run to make it 83-80 with 2:47 to play.
Lopez hit two free throws and Harrison one to prevent SGU from getting any closer prior to Harrison’s clutch jumper with 20 seconds left.
Wayland not hits the road for games next week against two ranked opponents, starting with No. 21 Southwestern Assemblies of God in Waxahachie on Thursday night then No. 9 Texas Wesleyan in Fort Worth on Saturday afternoon. The Pioneers split with the Lions and Rams at home, falling to SAGU, 66-60, but taking down Wesleyan, 79-77.
(Courtesy Wayland Baptist Athletics)
