QUICK HITS- The Buffs started the game on a 9-0 run with seven of those coming from
David Chavlovich- WBU started out the game 1-of-10 from the floor, they shot just 36.1% (13-of-36) in the first half
- WT led by as many as 25 (2nd, 2:39) points while WBU only got within 11 points in the second
- WT leads the all-time series against Wayland Baptist 22-1, the Pioneers are 0-15 in Canyon
LEADING THE WAY (Statistical Leaders)Points –
Jerrod Walton (WT, 19 Points),
Eric Golightly Jr. (WT, 19 Points),
David Chavlovich (WT, 17 Points),
Jeff Bonner (WT, 17 Points), Aniete Jack (WBU, 15 Points)
Rebounds –
Rylan Gerber (WT, 8 Rebounds),
Jerrod Walton (WT, 8 Rebounds), Marquous Barnes (WBU, 8 Rebounds)
Assists –
Tommy Gove (WT, 6 Assists), Jordan Tolbert (WBU, 6 Assists)
Blocks –
Jerrod Walton (WT, 5 Blocks),
Ryan Quaid (WT, 3 Blocks), Maurice Redmond (WBU, 1 Block),
Eric Golightly Jr. (WT, 1 Block),
Tommy Gove (WT, 1 Block)
Steals –
Eric Golightly Jr. (WT, 4 Steals), Jordon Johnson (WBU, 4 Steals)
CANYON, Texas – The West Texas A&M Buffaloes started Saturday's game on a 9-0 run and never looked back as they cruised past the NAIA #12 Pioneers of Wayland Baptist, 95-74 in front of 705 fans at the First United Bank Center in Canyon, Texas. The Buffs improve to 8-3 overall while the Pioneers remain at 8-1 with Saturday's matchup counting as an exhibition for WBU.
David Chavlovich started off the scoring with a three from the corner followed by misses on both ends of the court followed by a Chavlovich steal-and-score for the early 5-0 lead, the teams traded misses again before a Ryland Gerber offensive board led to a Chavlovich jumper in the lane to force a WBU timeout with 17:09 left and WT leading 7-0. Wayland missed two at the line but WT couldn't connect from deep before a
Jerrod Walton block but WT couldn't answer,
Ryan Quaid grabbed an offensive board and finished on the putback before the Pioneers registered their first points of the game on a Marquous Barnes layup. Chavlovich answered with a bucket followed by a WBU turnover to head into the first media timeout of the game with WT leading 11-2 with 14:55 left.
Quaid brought the FUBC crowd to its feet with a baseline drive and slam right after the break followed by a WBU miss that led to a Walton three from the wing,
Tommy Gove grabbed a defensive board and hit a three from the corner on the other end of the court followed by another Pioneer turnover but WT gave it right back with an illegal screen at 19-2. WBU missed again as Chavlovich found Walton for a fast break layup and foul for the three-point play before the Pioneers answered with one of their own, WT missed and Wayland answered with a layup before Walton hit a three from the top of the key followed by a rebound from the sophomore transfer that led to a layup by the Wisconsin native to head into a media timeout with 11:36 left and WT leading 27-7.
Johnson scored his seventh point of the game on a layup after the break followed by an illegal screen call on the Buffs that led to an AJ Jack floater in the lane before
Rylan Gerber answered with a three from the top of the key, Wayland registered another bucket followed by misses on both ends before Jordan Tolbert hit two at the line to cut the lead to 30-15. Gerber found
Jeff Bonner under the basket for an easy bucket followed by another Tolbert layup before a WT miss and foul sent the teams into the under-eight minute media timeout with WT leading 32-17 with 7:24 left.
Wayland missed the front end of a one-and-one after the break but WT gave the ball right back with an offensive foul, Gerber grabbed a defensive board as Golightly Jr. hit a three from the wing followed by a Barnes rebound and putback to make it 35-19. Golightly Jr. hit two freebies heading into a WT timeout followed by a WBU miss and Bonner layup before Gove stole away a Pioneers pass as Bonner hit one-of-two to run the score to 40-19, Wayland hit two at the line followed by a pair from Golightly Jr. before WBU answered with a three-point play with 4:29 left. Chavlovich missed from long range followed by a layup from Jack to cut the lead to 42-26 before a Chavlovich jumper in the paint and
Garrett Brockman drawing a charge to head into the last media timeout of the half with WT leading 44-26 with 3:32 left.
The Buffs gave the ball back with an illegal screen right after the break followed by a Maurice Redmond layup before Gove found Brockman under the basket for an easy layup, Golightly Jr. rejected a WBU fast break layup attempt followed by a Pioneer turnover but WT couldn't convert as they missed from deep. Wayland registered a layup on a steal-and-score followed by turnovers on both ends of the floor with 1:21 left. The Buffs missed from long range but Golightly Jr. stole away a pass that led to a Walton three-point play followed by a WBU free throw with just under a minute left, WT gave the ball back with a charge with 37.5 left followed by a Johnson layup. WT was called for a technical and the Pioneers hit two from the line followed by one from Walton with 20.6 left, Wayland missed two from the line but Wayland couldn't cut into the lead before the half as the Buffs took a 50-35 lead into the locker room.
The Buffs went 18-of-37 (48.6%) from the floor in the opening half including 6-of-15 (40%) from long range and 8-of-11 (72.7%) from the charity stripe to go along with 22 rebounds (five offensive, 17 defensive), 16 fouls, 11 assists, nine turnovers, six blocks and five steals. Walton went 5-of-6 from the floor including 3-of-4 from the free throw line to lead all players with 15 points followed by Chavlovich with 11 and Bonner with five.
Wayland Baptist went 13-of-36 (36.1%) from the floor in the first half including 0-of-8 (0%) from long range and 9-of-14 (64.3%) from the free throw line to go along with 24 rebounds (nine offensive, 15 defensive), 12 fouls, nine assists, 11 turnovers, no blocks and three steals. Johnson went 4-of-9 from the floor to lead the Pioneers with nine points at the break to go along with six rebounds.
The Pioneers scored on a lob play to start the second half followed by a WT offensive foul that led to a Johnson layup inside to cut the lead to 50-39, Golightly Jr. stopped the run with a three-point play followed by a Gerber defensive board and a Quaid layup before a step-back three by Robert Waters with just over 18 minutes left. Bonner scored in the paint before Waters hit a deep three from the wing followed by a WT turnover but Waters missed from the baseline as Golightly Jr. answered with a three from the corner at 60-45, Bonner grabbed a defensive board that led to a Chavlovich jumper followed by a Wayland illegal screen to head into the first media timeout of the half with WT leading 62-45 with 15:44 left.
Wayland scored on their first possession after the break followed by a WT turnover that led to a Pioneers layup to cut the lead to 62-49, the Buffs gave the ball right back with a turnover followed by a Pioneers bucket on an inbound play and another WT turnover with 13:35 left. Chavlovich found Bonner under the basket to end the run followed by a jump-ball to give the possession arrow back to the Buffs as Bonner finished at the rim again, Marshall Nelson hit a three from the top of the key followed by a WBU foul to head into the under-12 minute media timeout with the Buffs leading 66-54 with 11:52 left.
Chavlovich ran his game total to 15 points after the break with two freebies followed by a WBU miss from deep and a
Jordan Evans three from the wing at 71-54, Wayland missed again as Bonner finished at the rim followed by a Pioneers bucket in the pain before misses on both ends and Wayland missed two from the line and WT answered with two freebies by Golightly Jr. with 9:08 left heading into a Wayland timeout. The Pioneers scored on the inbound play after the timeout followed by a Walton layup from Gove and a WBU turnover that led to another free throw by Golightly Jr. to head into a media timeout with 7:55 left and WT leading 78-58.
Waters hit a long ball after the break before WT answered with a fast break Bonner dunk and a Pioneers offensive foul before the Buffs gave the ball right back with a turnover, Waters hit another three followed by another Golightly Jr. free throw, WBU gave the ball right back as the junior transfer finished on the steal-and-score layup followed by misses on both ends before a Gove steal led to a Bonner bucket to force a Pioneers timeout with 5:46 left and WT leading 85-64. The Pioneers scored on a steal after the break before a big offensive board by Bonner led to a freebie by the senior followed by turnovers on both ends before Evans knocked down a long ball from the wing followed by a WBU offensive foul to head into the final media timeout with WT leading 88-66 with 3:54 left.
Waters finished off a steal-and-score after the break followed by a pair of free throws by Walton and a Gerber defensive rebound that led to a three from the corner by the Dumas native at 93-68, the teams traded misses before Nelson hit two-of-three at the line followed by a Chavlovich coast-to-coast layup. WBU answered with a bucket followed by a WT turnover with just over a minute left, Brockman grabbed a defensive board but WT couldn't connect. Tolbert capped off the scoring with a steal-and-score as the Buffs ran out the clock for the 95-74 victory.
The Buffs went 34-of-64 (53.1%) from the floor including 10-of-25 (40%) from long range and 17-of-24 (70.8%) from the charity stripe to go along with 43 rebounds (10 offensive, 33 defensive), 23 fouls, 21 assists, 24 turnovers, 10 blocks and 11 steals in the game. Walton and Golightly Jr. combined to go 10-of-14 from the floor including 14-of-17 from the free throw line to lead all players with 19 points each followed by Chavlovich and Bonner with 17 each.
Wayland Baptist went 29-of-71 (40.8%) from the floor including 5-of-19 (26.3%) from deep and 11-of-19 (57.9%) from the free throw line to go along with 36 rebounds (13 offensive, 23 defensive), 25 fouls, 15 assists, 21 turnovers, one block and nine steals. Jack went 7-of-9 from the floor to lead the Pioneers with 15 points followed by Waters (14), Johnson (13) and Tolbert (11).
NEXT TIME OUTThe Buffs head to San Juan, Puerto Rico for three matchups against Division II Independents as they take on Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras on Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m. CT followed by a matchup with Puerto Rico-Bayamon on Thursday at 5 p.m. CT before concluding the trip against Puerto Rico-Humacao on Friday at 11 a.m. CT with all three contests taking place on the Bayamon campus. Fans can follow the action from Puerto Rico via live stats at GoBuffsGo.com while the WT Athletics Twitter account will also provide live updates (@WTAthletics).
