OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 13-ranked and third-seeded Wayland Baptist University Pioneers handily defeated the top-seed and No. 14-ranked Mid-America Christian University Evangels today (Mar. 7) 94-60 in the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament championship at the Abe Lemons Arena on the campus of Oklahoma City University.
The Pioneers concluded the first half by outscoring the Evangels 13-4 to take a 12-point lead of 45-33 at the break.
WBU stayed just as hot to begin the second half, scoring 17 of the first 19 points during the first six minutes of the period to take a commanding 62-35 lead.
The Evangels never threatened from that point as the Pioneers cruised to their first SAC tournament title and along with it an automatic berth to the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City, Mo.
MACU will also be in Kansas City after winning their first SAC regular season championship this season.
The Pioneers got off to a hot start, scoring the first six of the game and eventually pulled out to a double-figure lead of 20-8 and then 23-10 at the 11:28 mark of the half.
Jarius Wilson kept the Evangels close with a run of seven straight points that helped trim the lead to 25-17.
The Evangels crept closer when Semar Farris found Chris Runnels underneath for a three-point play that made it 26-20 with 7:49 left in the half.
After WBU answered with six straight to again build a lead of 12 points, Reggie Davis converted a three-point play that was followed by a trey from Brock Hunter and one from Davis that suddenly brought the Evangels within 32-29 at the 4:27 mark.
The shooting totals tell much of the story of the contest, as the Evangels mustered only a 31.9 percent (22-of-69 clip, while the Pioneers were hot throughout and shot a blistering 62.9 percent (39-of-62) for the game.
Davis led the Evangels with 12 points and Farris scored 11. Josh Smith had seven points to go along with a team-high seven rebounds.
Robert Waters paced five Pioneers (27-5) in double-figures with 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field. Ta'Quan McDew had a double-double of 18 points and 12 boards for WBU.
For the Evangels, Davis was named to the All-SAC Tournament team and Farris received the tournament's "Hustle" award. Davis averaged 9.7 points per game with five rebounds in the three tourney games, while Farris scored 17.7 points per game along with four assists.
The Evangels will now wait to find out their opponent and game time for the NAIA National Tournament to be held Mar. 18-24 in Kansas City, Mo. The field will be announced next Wednesday afternoon (Mar. 11), while the tourney selection show will take place that night at 8 p.m.
Stay with www.macuathletics.com for complete details regarding the Evangels' first trip to the NAIA National Tournament.
