SHAWNEE, Okla. -- The seventh-seeded Golden Eagles (21-11) battled second-seeded and No. 22 Wayland Baptist (Texas) to four first-half ties, but the Pioneers (22-9) used 14 unanswered points to pull away for good en route to a 99-80 win tonight in the quarterfinals of the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament.
WBU will move on to the quarterfinals as the only higher seed to claim victory in the round of eight. Oklahoma Baptist, Science & Arts (Okla.) and Mid-America Christian (Okla.) each upset its higher-ranked opposition in Southwestern A.G. (Texas), St. Gregorys (Okla.) and Oklahoma City, respectively.
Max Hopfgartner came off the bench to lead JBU with 26 points on 11-of-14 shooting from the field. Kofi Josephs drained three triples and finished with 16 points while tying a career high six assists. A pair of Golden Eagles finished their collegiate career in double figures as Gilbert Gyamfi went 5-of-7 from the line to chip in 12 points while Kurtis Phillips hit a trio of three-pointers, contributing 11 points in the loss.
Gyamfi hit a three-pointer from the left arc to open the scoring for JBU and immediately sent an assist down low to Jared Johnson in the post, sending the Golden Eagles to a quick 5-2 lead. WBUs Markus Monroe responded with a three-pointer of his own to knot the score before he converted a pair of shots from the line, handing Baptist a 7-6 lead. Both squads traded buckets until an old-fashioned three-point play allowed Wayland to take a 10-8 lead. Phillips hit back-to-back shots at 15:11 and 14:40, one behind the arc and one inside, returning the advantage back to the Golden Eagles, 13-10.
Baptist continued its hot three-point shooting to tie the score but a pair of Hopfgartner shots from the line preserved the narrow lead. However, over the next 5:11 of the first half, Wayland made its run that created enough separation to preserve a lead for the remainder of the contest. During the span, WBU outscored John Brown, 18-2, and the Golden Eagles were held to 1-of-3 from the field, but committed six turnovers. Phillips triple at 8:27 finally stemmed the Pioneer momentum and Johnsons basket in the post reduced the lead to single-digits, 31-22.
After allowing Wayland to regain a 12-point lead, 35-23, Kileab Ammons hit a three-pointer from the deep left corner and Johnson again followed with a field goal in the paint to reduce Waylands advantage to seven, 35-28. Finishing 6-of-11 from behind the arc in the first half (54.5 percent), WBU then drained consecutive triples, returning the lead to 13 and ultimately a 16-point lead at the intermission, 51-35.
Baptist shot 54.8 percent in the second half while pouring in another four triples as the Golden Eagles were unable to close the margin to fewer than 13 in the second half while Wayland expanded its lead to as many as 24.
The Pioneers (22-9) posted a 55.6 percent shooting night (35-of-63) and hit a total of 10 three-pointers. The Golden Eagles also shot well (45.3 percent) but were unable to maintain pace with the Pioneers efficient offense. WBU out-rebounded John Brown, 42-30, and earned a 46-38 advantage in points in the paint.
After falling in eight of its first 10 contests in the second semester, JBU rattled off eight wins in 10 games to close the regular season slate and finished 1-1 at the tournament after a 107-100 win over Northwood (Texas) in the opening round on March 5. The Golden Eagles close the season at 21-11 and eclipsed the 20-win plateau for the eighth time in the last 10 years and for the sixth time in seven seasons under head coach Clark Sheehy.
