Complete Box Score

FORT WORTH, Texas –James Whitfield and Marcus Johnson must salivate when they see Southwestern Assemblies of God University on the schedule. On December 12th in Waxahachie, the two combined for 42 points in Wesleyan’s 82-65 win. Saturday night in the Sid Richardson Gymnasium, they combined for 43 as the Rams bested their previous single-game total this season by six points in a 104-78 drubbing of the Lions.

Doug Freer opened the scoring, connecting on a three-pointer to give the Lions the early lead, but Aaron Whaley countered with a three of his own to tie the score, and Marcus Johnson followed with another bucket to put the Rams in front. After another SAGU bucket, Equale Lacey’s emphatic dunk with 15 minutes remaining in the half gave the Lions a one-point lead and brought a surprisingly large SAGU fan base to their feet, but it would be their last lead of the evening. Marcus Johnson’s three-point play put the Rams back in front, 15-13, and David Johnson’s driving slam over three Lion defenders further inspired an already noisy Wesleyan crowd, and put the Lions fans back in their seats.

Freer cut the lead to one with his second three-pointer of the game for SAGU, but Whitfield followed with his second for Wesleyan, who then went on a 10-6 run to extend the lead to eight. Joey Gladney hit a pair of three-pointers, and Marcus Johnson and Brad Schilder each chipped in to put the Rams up 32-24 as the clock rolled under ten minutes in the half.

The Rams continued to shoot well, pushing the lead as high as 14 points with 2:23 left in the first frame. The teams essentially traded baskets from there, and Wesleyan took a 53-40 lead into halftime.

When play resumed, Aaron Whaley finished a nice drive to the basket to begin the scoring, and the Rams never looked back. Marcus Johnson connected on another three-pointer, and Whaley hit one of his own, sparking Wesleyan to a 21-6 run over the first six minutes of the second half. Whitfield hit a pair of three-pointers to end the scoring outburst, which gave the Rams a 74-46 lead and ended all doubt about the outcome of the game. The only question that remained was whether or not the Rams would top 100 points.

Kenny Johnson’s steal and lay-up with 8:40 remaining put the Rams up 86-56, giving them their largest lead of the night. Brad Schilder then went on a scoring run, connecting for eight of Wesleyan’s next 13, as the Rams equaled their previous season high, 98 points, with 3:30 remaining. He would have scored the 100th point too, but after a nice steal, his lay-up was a bit too strong. Whitfield trailed the play, however, and put back the miss to give Wesleyan a 100-72 lead. Aaron Whitson and Brandon Hobbs closed out the scoring with a pair of free throws each.

Freer knocked down four of nine three-point attempts, and hit all four of his free throws to lead the Lions with 16 points. Derek Willis scored ten points and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds for SAGU, and Renz finished with 13 points and five boards.

Five Rams scored in double figures, led by Whitfield with 23 points on nine of 15 shooting, including five of nine from long range. Marcus Johnson scored 20 and added nine rebounds, and Joey Gladney continued to prove he’s the best sixth man in the conference, scoring 18 points and pulling down 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. Aaron Whaley buried four of seven three-point attempts and finished with 14 points, and Brad Schilder scored 13. David Johnson posted seven points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals, and two blocks. Kenny Johnson had a similar line, with 4 points, six boards, two assists, and three steals.

The Rams improve to 17-6 on the season, 9-2 in conference play.

They travel to Dallas on Monday to face Paul Quinn College. In Wesleyan’s first-ever Red River Conference game, the Rams bested the Tigers 96-76 on December 3rd in the Sid Richardson Gymnasium. Tip off for Monday’s rematch is at 7:30. The Rams’ next home game is Saturday, February 8 against Jarvis Christian College.