PLAINVIEW, TX - The No. 24 Wayland Baptist Pioneers (10-4, 5-1 SAC) stayed on fire Saturday night, topping Texas Wesleyan (7-7, 2-4 SAC) 68-52. The Pioneers have won five of the last seven and four in a row at home.

Juwan Jones continued his sixth-man role, leaping off the bench for 17 points, five rebounds and two steals on 6-of-12 shooting. It was Jones' second-straight game over 17, fifth this season. 

The Rams couldn't buy a basket in the first half, hitting on just 1-of-8 shots from deep, but things got better in the last 20 minutes. The Rams chipped away at a 17-point advantage for the Pioneers. A 7-0 run capped by a fastbreak bucket from Sam Lorenzen made the score 38-28 with 15:49 to go. Justin Flakes' layup with 10:18 to go clipped Wayland's advantage to eight - 42-34. Off of a Peyton Sallee three, Justin Flakes nabbed a steal and found Jones for a three giving the Pioneers anxiety to the tune of 46-42 with just 9:16 on the clock.

The Rams went the next 4:02 without a field goal and the deficit from the first half was too much to overcome.

Defensively, Texas Wesleyan got after it. The Rams forced 18 turnovers, turning them into 22 points. On the flip side, TXWES turned the ball over a mere seven times, the least amount of turnovers since the seven the Rams had against Mid-America Christian on January 25, 2018. The starting five only accounted for one turnover as Peyton Sallee and Rob Thomas continued to build on their superb assist/turnover ratios (8th and 33rd in the NAIA, respectively). 

Sallee scored nine and Dare Brazeal continued to fill the stat sheet with eight points, six rebounds and three steals. The do-it-all senior post has had at least six rebounds each of the last three games and the three steals is a new season high. Brazeal already has topped his 11 steals from 2017-2018 with 13 steals in 13 games played in this edition of Rams basketball.

Joe Cook-Green and Flakes each added six points off the bench. 

WHAT'S NEXT
Texas Wesleyan will return to home sweet home (6-3 at the Sid Richardson Center compared to 1-4 on the road) to face Southwest Assemblies of God Tuesday night at  8 p.m. January at home is when Texas Wesleyan Men's Basketball starts to hit another level. In the last three seasons, the Rams are 11-1 at home in the month of January and face a four-game homestand sitting 10th out of 12 teams in the conference standings, but just 1.5 games back of fourth place in a crowded and cluttered middle-of-the-pack in the stacked SAC.