Waxahachie, Texas – November 22, 2016- The Southwestern Assemblies of God University (SAGU) men’s basketball team won the rematch against Wiley College . The Lions handed Wiley their first loss of the season after beating them 82-73. SAGU is now 7-2 and Wiley is 5-1.
Exactly two weeks ago, Wiley beat the Lions with a very similar score of 83-70.
“I’m proud of our desire to push to our capacity tonight,” says head coach Donnie Bostwick , “We have come up short a couple times this year and we were able to push through and overcome. That is a good sign and a quality win versus a solid Wiley team.”
WC jumped to an early lead. With 14 minute left in the first half they were leading 15-7. SAGU is known to make fast-paced runs, and that is exactly what they did to regain the lead by halftime.
The Lions were able to take the lead with 2:06 left in the half when Kentton Williams made two free throws. Keyunta Watkins followed with two free throws of his own and then Adrian Palacios made a basket. At halftime, SAGU was in the lead 34-31.
Wiley came up big on the boards. In the first half they had 15 offensive rebounds, according to Bostwick that was a game-changer in the first half, “They killed us on the offensive glass the first half but we paid them back the second half and that was the difference in the game.”
Although the Lions led for the entire second half, Wiley did make it a game. With 7:52 left to play, SAGU extended their lead to 10 after Dareny Sims got an offensive rebound for a put-back. With 3:22 left, WC’s Ricardo Artis made a basket to tie the game at 67.
In the final three minutes, the Lions went seven of 10 in free throws and came up with three steals. Also, Lance Tipton and Keyunta Watkins hit timely three pointers.
“Keyunta, Isaak (Rowe), and Josh all three made big plays down the stretch. That is what upperclassmen do. Key looked like the Key we all expect to see night in night out,” says Bostwick.
Keyunta Watkins had a season-high 29 points and four assists. Kentton Williams and Isaak Rowe each added 11 points. Rowe also had four steals and six rebounds.
For the Wildcats, Stephen Taylor scored 19 points with nine rebounds and Ricardo Artis had 18 points with 17 points.
The Lions will enjoy a Thanksgiving break before taking on Dallas Christian College on Monday, November 8, 2016 at 7:00pm. Earlier in the season, SAGU topped DCC 85-70.
After all, being a college athlete takes up a lot of time. Time and apparently, snacks in the bag.
Southwestern Assemblies of God University is a private, Christian university located 30 minutes south of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in Waxahachie, Texas. The university was established in 1927, and now offers more than 70 associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees on campus or online. More information is available at www.sagu.edu or by calling 1-888-YES-SAGU.
Contact: Natalie Tristan, SAGU SID, [email protected]
