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MBB vs. Wayland Baptist
Damaris Garcia
64
Wayland Baptist (TX) WAYLAND 13-9, 13-5
71
Winner UNT Dallas UNT DALL 10-11, 7-11
Wayland Baptist (TX) WAYLAND
13-9, 13-5
64
Final
71
UNT Dallas UNT DALL
10-11, 7-11
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Wayland Baptist (TX) WAYLAND 28 36 64
UNT Dallas UNT DALL 37 34 71

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | nathanyacovissi

Trailblazers Earn Statement Victory over Wayland Baptist on Thursday

DALLAS – Timely defense and quick baskets helped build an early first half lead and University of North Texas at Dallas men's basketball withstood a late rally to capture a huge 71-64 victory over first-place Wayland Baptist on Thursday night at Ellis Davis Field House. It was a statement win for the Trailblazers, who edged Wayland Baptist for the first time historically and helped their cause in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings.
 
UNT Dallas improved to 10-11 overall and 7-11 in league play. Wayland Baptist fell to 13-9 overall and 13-5 in conference play and are now tied for second with Mid-America Christian. Nelson shared a tie with the Pioneers for first entering the night and defeated Oklahoma Panhandle State 76-54, UNTD's next opponent.  
 
It was all Trailblazers from start to finish, as they never trailed or were tied from the jump. A feeling of good luck emerged during the first two minutes, as the Trailblazers dropped the first seven points. Senior Vernon Johnson (DeSoto, Texas) had two free throws and his teammate in the backcourt, Jayden Johnson-Blair sank a trey and then Johnson swiped a steal to find Johnson-Blair on the breakaway to cap the quick surge.
 
The Pioneers scored eight of the next nine points to slice the margin to one through about five minutes.
 
UNTD rekindled the offense with some defensive plays turning to offense as a trio of blocked shots came from senior Ashton Howard (Cedar Hill, Texas), Johnson, and junior Greg Crawford (Houston, Texas) in key moments to prevent Wayland Baptist from countering an early Trailblazers' run. Johnson and Johnson-Blair led the charge in scoring with the tandem combining for 15 of the first 17 points. Johnson-Blair had a steal that led to one of his game-high seven assists to Johnson on a fastbreak to cap a 17-8 led through the first eight minutes of action.
 
The lead for the Trailblazers was maintained as high as nine points on a few occasions. Two free throws by junior Daniel Sohn (Aledo, Texas) opened the first double-digit lead for the Trailblazers (30-19) with 6:43 minutes before intermission. A little over two minutes later, Sohn swiped a steal and completed a layup after exchanging passes from Johnson to match the 11-point spread. Johnson-Blair countered a trey from Wayland Baptist's leading scorer Quenton Coleman on a previous shot from deep for gap to remain 11. With two minutes to halftime, Howard got a layup to open the home team's largest first half lead, 37-25. A three-point play by Coleman was the final points of the stanza and it was 37-28.
 
UNT Dallas improved its field goal shooting percentage in the second half despite being outscored by two points to a sharp 51.9 percent (14-27). This included three-of-four from behind the three-point arc.
 
The Pioneers made an early run to pull within five points through three and a half minutes. Johnson-Blair steered UNTD on a 7-0 sprint back to double-digits over the next two minutes. Sohn had an offensive tip-in and then followed with a triple on an assist from Johnson-Blair to make it 46-34 for the Trailblazers. A trey by Johnson-Blair stretched the lead to 13 and then just past seven minutes into the frame, the post-players Crawford and Howard had layups to expand the margin to 17 points. This completed a 14-2 scoring explosion that had the positive feelings going on the UNTD bench and in the home crowd. The lead remained at about this margin just past the midway point of the second and was as many points as 18 (60-42).
 
Wayland Baptist held the deficit and started working to dwindle the gap. One of the top conference's teams began to make significant waves with three free throws by Coleman at 5:17 minutes left due to a shooting foul and technical foul that gave him four free throws. That narrowed the margin to 10. A trifecta by Coleman with 3:33 minutes brought the score to single-digits. Coleman had a pair of free throws with barely three to go and the closest the guests threatened was five (67-62) the remainder of the way.
 
Johnson muscled through the paint and had a critical layup on the next play to stopped the WBU momentum and two free throws by Crawford helped seal the win in the final 26 seconds.
 
Coleman had a game-high 31 points, behind four three-pointers and 11-for-15 shooting at the free throw line. Most of Wayland Baptist's scoring in the second half came from a 12-for-16 showing at the line just that period.
 
The Trailblazers limited Wayland Baptist to 31.9 percent (22-69) from the field and 23.8 percent (5-21) from three.
 
UNT Dallas used a 20-3 advantage in the first half on points off turnovers to lead the category for the game, 22-10. The Trailblazers also had an 8-0 advantage in the opening half on fastbreak points and led 10-8 overall. Part of this stealth play was due to 11 steals in the game with eight in the first. Johnson picked up four alone for a season-high. Johnson-Blair, Sohn, and Crawford had two each and Howard capped the final theft to give the starting unit credit for contributing at least once to the team's 10th game to eclipse double-digits. This game marks the fourth time in the past six games to eclipse double-digits and the other two contests had nine.
 
The Trailblazers accumulated a team-record setting eight blocks as a team with the league's leader in that column Howard swatting three. This was another category the entire starting lineup contributed in the box score with at least one. The record at the start of the year by the team was six on two occasions in previous seasons (Southwestern Christian – 2/15/24) (Langston (1/14/23). Howard technically matched the team feat alone with his career-best at home against Texas Wesleyan (1/6/25). That was the latest record high of seven as a team.
 
Johnson-Blair led UNTD with a season-high 19 points and had a team-leading 14 in the first half. He shot 50 percent (7-14) from the field, was 3-of-5 from three, and made both free throw shots. Johnson-Blair's made field goals and three-point field goals were season-bests. He dished seven assists consecutive games and has matched or surpassed that number of dimes five times this year. Johnson-Blair recently became the career assists leader, and now holds the single-season record with exactly 100. Finally, the point guard is a two-time single-game assists leader with nine.
 
Johnson was the other big first half scorer with 10-of-14 points coming during the opening 20 minutes. As mentioned above, Johnson swiped a personal-best four steals to keep in contention at the top of the SAC. He added four assists and had a block.
 
Sohn contributed 13 points to extend his double-digit scoring streak to eight games and he has drilled a three-ball during the last six games. This is after making one three all season prior.
 
Crawford and Howard were matching double-doubles with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Crawford notched his 13th double-double overall and keeps his double-digit scoring streak intact at 21 games. Crawford ensured the streak was made with 10 second-half points. Howard had a fun with numbers trend on the points and rebounds with five and six each frame to double his output for the game.
 
UNTD continues to maintain its endurance with seven players getting action and two bench players combining for five points and 31 minutes.
 
In addition to Coleman's big game, the Pioneers received a double-double from Kabine Kaba with 12 points and 15 boards. He also had four blocks. Wayland Baptist won second chance points, 10-5 and rebounds, 45-39.
 
UNT Dallas hosts Oklahoma Panhandle State on February 1 at Ellis Davis Field House. Tip-off is around 4:00 p.m. after the women's game.
 
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