Tigers swept by Wayland Baptist at home

Sports Editor Peter Holland Jr.

When a basketball powerhouse like Wayland Baptist University comes to town, every little stat counts. The Central Christian Basketball teams lost to Wayland Baptist due to its major flaws that were costly. The women lost to the Flying Queens 92-65, while the men lost 89-80.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th

Wayland 12   31   72 92

CCC          13   25  55 65

On the women’s side, Both teams played quite similar. Central shot 25 of 75 on the field while the Flying Queens, a team that’s ranked No. 6 in the country, was 32 of 70.  Head Coach Marc Golden made it clear that being outrebounded 48-34 was the difference-maker in their loss.

“I think that their team and our team were pretty identical,” Golden said. “We both shoot a lot of shots every game. All of our stats and categories were going to be identical. The one that will decide the game is the rebound. They outrebounded us by 14. The end.”

Holly Golden led the Tigers with 16 points and seven rebounds. Zenith Hernandez picked 13 points and Kassidy Forsberg had 12.

The Lady Tigers put on defensive battle with the Flying Queens as they led 13-12 in the first quarter even though they were 0 for 15  in triples. The Lady Tigers started the second quarter on 6-0 run after Henerdez knocked down back-to-back 3s. The Flying Queens responded with 6-0 run of their own, but the focused on attacking the basket more.

The Flying Queens found their shooting rhythm and captured a 52-41 lead five minutes into the third. Both teams were exchanging three-point buckets, but Wayland shot 70 percent from behind the arc, then outscored the Tigers 20-12 in the fourth. The Tigers fall to 5-10 on the season. 

1st  2nd  F

Wayland   36 53 89

CCC         28  52 80

As for the men. Their biggest downfall in Saturday’s loss was their missed free throws.  The Tigers went 25 for 45 at the line. If the Tigers made at least 80 percent of their free throws, it would’ve been a whole different ballgame.

“That’s kind of big deal right now,” Head Coach Tony Romero said after the game. “Go to Oklahoma City, we missed 15 free throws, Langston, we didn’t shoot the ball well there. At home, we missed 20 free throws and 20 turnovers. I’m proud of our guys’ effort but we got to make our free throws and take care of the ball, but I was proud of our fight.”

Four Tigers got into foul trouble early including their top shooters TJ Williams and Andrew Epps. Both had to sit out for most of the first half after three early foul calls. Eventually, Epps, who led with 17 points, Byron Staten and Darrell Bryant were fouled out. While Williams was able to finish the rest of the game with four. Williams finished 12 points and despite CCC’s free-throw struggles, the senior was 10 for 12 at the line. 

After the game tied  11 each, the Tigers went on 9-0 run while making defensive stops. Ben Glover, who had 15 points, came off the bench knocking a pair of three-pointers to give them a 20-11 lead, but it wouldn’t last too long. Wayland answered back by outscoring the Tigers 26-8 and led 36-28 at halftime.  Some might remember JJ Culver, who went viral for dropping 100 points last month, finished with 25 points.

The Tigers fall 8-8 on the season.  Central Christian College will be on the road for its next two games. The Tigers will take on the Southwestern Assemblies of God University on Thursday and then Texas Wesleyan University on Saturday.