Feb. 3, 2008

* NAIA Scoreboard
* NAIA Weekly

BETHANY, Okla. -- In a battle between #22 and #12, the winner is often determined by which team comes out ready to play.  On Saturday (Feb. 2), it was the 22nd-ranked Pioneers of Wayland Baptist (Texas) 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 (Okla.).

"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.