Wayland Baptist wouldn't let Midwestern State run Wednesday night. But, the Pioneers couldn't keep the Indians from flying Sunday morning.
 
Flying to Kansas City, that is.
 
Playing a patient and deliberate brand of basketball, Wayland controlled the tempo of NAIA's District 8 finale, but MSU controlled the final score. Before 5,200 Ligon Coliseum witnesses, the Tribe knocked off the Pioneers 78-66 to earn their fifth trip to the national tournament in the last eight years.
 
"Getting this bunch to Kansas City has to be the highlight of my coaching career," MSU coach Gerald Stockton said with a grin. "We've had to make so many changes this season and struggled all year long. The guys who stuck around hung in there all the way. This is their victory.
 
"They wanted to make this a team so bad, they'd do anything to accomplish it. We've got guys hurting real bad, but they play with pain and they play with enthusiasm."
 
Wayland held a 30-28 halftime advantage and led by as much as five in the second half. However, as they have done all year long, the Indians scrapped and clawed until Mike Ray's long-ranger from the baseline put them on top 41-40, the first time in nine long minutes they had held the upper hand.
 
It was another shot by Ray -- this time from much closer in on the baseline -- that gave the Tribe the lead for good, 45-44, with 12:41 to go.
 
But the Pioneers wouldn't lie down and play dead. They kept hitting from the floor with consistency each time down the court and were only down by a single point with 6:06 to go.
 
The turning point came with 51 seconds to go. With MSU clinging to a four-point advantage, Jud Holmes fouled forward Gerald Anderson. The San Antonio junior stepped to the line, and with the near-capacity crowd attempting to turn his ear drums inside out, he hit the front rim on the first of a one-and-one. Ironically, it was the only missed free of the evening for the hot shooting Pioneers.
 
When Anderson missed, Ricky Cobb went high for the rebound and on this trip down the floor, it was Holmes on the receiving end of a foul by Dennis Johnson. Holmes calmly swished both free throws for a six point lead.
 
The band could have struck up "Kansas City" (but it didn't) with 28 seconds to go when Cullen Mayfield turned a Wayland turnover into a driving layup.
 
Mayfield's layup was the only field goal the Tribe managed in the last 3:20 of the game. Thirteen of MSU's final 15 points were made from the free throw line and MSU misfired only once from the stripe in that span.
 
In all, Midwestern went to the free throw line 34 times and missed just six. Wayland, on the other hand, got only nine chances and hit eight. Pioneer coach Ron Mayberry thought that might have been a bit too one-sided.
 
"I don't want this to sound like sour grapes, but the officiating was horrible. Every close call went their way," said the first-year coach, who guided Wayland to a 20-17 record this season and the school's first 20-win season in 24 years. "Midwestern is a great team. They didn't need the help.
 
"This hurts," he added. "If we played Midwestern 10 times, they'd probably win eight of them. But this was our night to win."
 
MSU won all three times against the Pioneers this year and now owns a 19-game winning streak over the Plainview crew. Mayberry pointed out that in all three games MSU has strolled to the free throw line much more than his team. Checking the stats, the Tribe got 96 free throw opportunities in the three games and WBC only 34.
 
"They foul. It's not the first time I've said it," Stockton replied. "I thought we got the short end when we went to their place. Yes, tonight we get the benefit of some close calls, but I don't think it was any cheating by the officials. Wayland just fouls a lot."
 
The Pioneers tight zone defense created a lot of problems for MSU's usual fast-break offense. The guards -- Ray and Mayfield -- shot the lights out against the zone to keep Midwestern in it. With Wayland hitting 63 percent from the floor for the game, the two little men had to be on target or it would have been the other guys flying to Kansas City Sunday.
 
Mayfield hit 7 of 13 from the floor and 12 of 13 from the line to lead MSU with 26 points. Ray connected on 9 of 15 and 3 of 3 for 21 points.
 
Meanwhile, the Wayland zone simply took the Tribe's big man out of the game in the first 34 minutes. Cobb could manage just six points in that span, but came on strong at the end and finished with 14.
 
"We couldn't get it to Ricky early," Stockton explained. "Then when we finally spread out their defense, we started getting it inside."
 
Holmes also managed to find double figures with 11 points, but Teddy Brigham, the Tribe's leading scorer this season, put the ball up only five times and scored just a half dozen.
 
The 6-7 Johnson scored 16 of Wayland's first 18 points and the junior post from Houston finished with 28, including 11 of 16 from the floor. Sophomore Danny Wrenn hit eight straight points in the first half and was the only other Wayland player to hit double figures with 10.
 
The game was tied a dozen times in the first half with neither team really able to get the upper hand. MSU managed a four-point lead a couple of times, and Wayland never could get up by more than a couple.
 
It stayed close until the end when Midwestern's marksmanship from the free throw line gave the Indians command of the game.
 
"Wayland is a very well-coached ball club," Stockton said. "And Dennis Johnson is a heck of a player. They're a control club and very opportunistic. I can see how they beat Texas Wesleyan.
 
"They made us play their game, but we beat them at their game. That says something for our players. It says our club did a very good job."
 
Winning 11 of its last 14 games, MSU now takes a 23-17 record and a four-game win streak to Kansas City's national tournament, which begins Monday morning.
 
 
Tribe's faith prevails
 
By Doug Brown
Wichita Falls Times Staff Sports Writer
 
Jeane Dixon couldn't have foreseen it. Jimmy the Greek couldn't have picked it. Most people can't believe it. But to the small band of warriors who kept plugging away and plugging away despite unbelievable circumstances, it has happened.
 
"I had the feeling that once we got things rolling we probably would (win district). A lot of teams leave championships on the practice field, but we seem to have peaked out at the right time. That's good coaching. We proved we could play against tough people and we earned it," junior Mark Richardson, one of the unsung but certainly deserving Midwestern State Indians, said after the team's 78-66 NAIA District 8 championship victory over Wayland Baptist Wednesday night.
 
With the victory, this year's group of misfit Indians -- at least that was what most everyone thought of them in December -- earned a trip among the final 32 teams to Kansas City's NAIA national tournament next week.
 
With 15 seconds left and Indians up by eight points, Cullen Mayfield leaned over and said something to Judson Holmes. Holmes leaped up off the court and threw a big No. 1 sign to the MSU student body. What did Cullen say?
 
"We just said 'we did it' to each other. It went back to two months ago when some of us got together and decided 'we have to make a showing.' Everybody counted us out, but we put our minds to it and decided to show these people. We've talked about it for three months," Holmes said as he rejoiced in victory.
 
The Bloomington, Ind., senior, whose give-it-all-you've-got-it style of aggressive play typifies this year's Tribe, said it was his biggest thrill. "I've been playing ball 13 years. I've never seen a season like this. It's just like we're a Cinderella team. By far, personally, this has been the best season. I don't think I could go out on a better note. Thank God and thank the fans who supported us when we were down."
 
For 38 minutes of Wednesday night's contest, Midwestern's title dreams were very shaky. Coach Ron Mayberry and his Pioneers -- a team that had lost twice previously to the Indians -- were playing even with the Indians and threatening to take the title back to Plainview. But in the end, it was clutch free throw shooting by the Tribe that sealed the win in the final minutes of play.
 
"When they (MSU) got the game going the way they wanted it they won it. They had offensive control of the game at the end," he said. "If we'd got the lead at the end we might have won it. The breaks just didn't go the right way."
 
And for a better part of the night, the Pioneers were successful by using excellent passing and good court sense.
 
"They (Wayland) played a heck of a game. They played deliberate and took good shots. It was a tough game; I'm not kidding," senior Mike Ray, who scored 21 points, said.
 
"I had my doubts at the first of the season if we could do it. Last month, I didn't,' he added.

Once again, the Indians were led in scoring by Mayfield, who plugged the nets for 26 points (12 from the charity stripe).
 
"It's all behind us now. We showed the people we could do it," he commented.
 
As far as Wednesday night's game went, a lot of the Indians were less than pleased at first. But in the second half the Tribe hit the warpath.
 
"I thought we could have played better. WBC played as good as they could," freshman Ricky Cobb said.
 
"We're just piddling the time away in the first half. We were not hustling that good. With 17 minutes to go, we started playing good. We told ourselves we had to get it going," Ray added.
 
Cobb, who has seen almost every type of circumstance that can happen to a team in his first collegiate season, reflected on the season, saying, "first, I thought it was going to be hard (to win district). But we kept saying 'once we'd get our stuff together we'd be for real.'"
 
Two years ago, Midwestern took what was then considered an "underdog" team to K.C. and finished fourth in the nation. This season only one player, Teddy Brigham, is back from that squad.
 
"It was good when I was there last time. Now I'm more excited about it. Now I know we can do it. We did well last time when nobody expected us to and we can do it this time. We just have to play our game," Brigham concluded.
 
As the song says, "Kansas City, Kansas City, here we come!"