100-point game way beyond plan
PLAINVIEW — The plan was set at shoot-around. Actually, the plan had been hatching in Ty Harrelson’s mind for quite some time.
Prior to Tuesday night’s home game against Southwestern Adventist in the Hutcherson Center, the Wayland Baptist coach brought his idea to some of his players.
How would they feel if they let senior J.J. Culver try to break a record or two?
The record Harrelson had in mind was the Pioneers record of 50 points in a game. The players would force his hand on a couple other records.
As soon as the ball was tipped, the plan went into action. Each of the first three plays were designed calls for Culver to score. He succeeded each time. Just over one minute into the game, the senior from Lubbock had seven straight points.
Little did anybody know — this was just the start of what will forever be known as the game J.J. Culver dropped 100 points.
“The only cutoff was him,” fellow WBU senior Matthew Mulloy said of Culver. “That was it. If he said enough, then it was up to him. We were still going, and we were going to feed him no matter what.”
Wayland Baptist won the game 124-60, improving to 8-1 on the season.
Initially, the idea was just to have Culver score 51 points, which would set not only a career high but the schol record. That was, as it turned out, a bit easier than they thought.
As a man on a mission, Culver was hardly alone. Of the four other Pioneers on the court with him, nobody else wanted to shoot. Open shots were declined, layups and dunks included, and the ball was swung back out to Culver. It wasn’t until the 6:50 mark of the first half when Gage Hulse drained a 3-pointer that somebody other than Culver made a shot. The first non-Culver attempt came from Jordan Brannon almost seven minutes into the game. Culver had scored 21 points by then.
“I’m not tired, honestly,” Culver said after the historic night. “I said if I want to be great then I have to keep working every day. I ran around the lake every single day, just ran around, stayed conditioned this summer. I look up to Kobe (Bryant), and he ran a lot.”
Culver had the school record in hand by halftime, having scored 51 points by going 16-of-32 from the field, 6-of-18 from 3-point range and 13-of-16 from the free throw line. He accounted for all but six points and 10 shots by the Pioneers in the first half.
“They said it. I walked into halftime, and they said, ‘Let’s keep it going, Coach,’ ” said Harrelson. “That’s enough for me to say, ‘OK, this is how we have to do it.’ We’re going to do it the right way. We’re not going to go crazy with it. Anybody who was in the Hutch tonight, I don’t think any of us will forget it.”
Southwestern Adventist figured out the Pioneers’ plan early on, doing what they could to slow Culver down.
“After I broke the record, I knew I could score a lot more,” said Culver, whose previous career high was 41. “I had the record at halftime, and they were like, ‘J.J., can you get 75? 80?’ I was like, ‘Honestly, guys, I think I can get 100.’ They were like OK, OK.
“It just means a lot. That just means they care for me. They want the best for me. I thought it was awesome for them to say, ‘J.J., keep going.’ During halftime they just said keep going, keep going. So I was like, all right, I will.
He was up to 84 points with 5:19 left in the game and sitting at 98 with 1:04 on the clock.
With just under a minute to go Culver fought through contact, and sank his 34th field goal of the game. The Hutcherson Center erupted.
Culver’s 100 points are the second most scored in an NAIA men’s basketball game. The record is 113 by Clarence “Bevo” Francis, who accomplished the feat in 1954. Culver finished 34of-62 from the field, 12-of-33 from 3-point range and 20of-27 from the free throw line. He also had nine rebounds and five steals.
“It’s a credit to J.J. How many people can do something like that?” said Harrelson. “I’m proud of him and for our program that we can be part of a night that’s that special.”