SHAWNEE, Okla. -- The John Brown men's basketball needed a bit of heroics Saturday afternoon as an 11-point second-half lead evaporated in the final seconds, only to have clutch free-throw shooting save a victory as the Golden Eagles held off No. 17 Oklahoma Baptist 76-75 inside the Noble Complex.
With the victory, the Golden Eagles (14-10, 6-6 SAC) sweep the season series with the Bison, twice defeating OBU (17-7, 6-6 SAC) while ranked in the NAIA National Coaches' Top-25 Poll. Both meetings ended in one-point JBU victories.
Sophomore Nate Anderson hit a pair of free throws, building JBU's lead to a game-high 11 points, 48-37, with 12:58 left in the game. After freshman Julian Erickson and OBU's Ty Allen traded 3-pointers, Baptist pieced together a 10-2 run, returning the visitors' lead to just three, 53-50.
Senior Max Hopfgartner tallied both attempts at the line and junior Ronalds Elksnis' layup with 7:40 remaining in the contest kept John Brown ahead by eight, 62-54. However, over the next 3:18, JBU failed to score and the Bison rallied to within four on an Allen jumper and pair at the line. Hopfgartner later buried his first of two 3-pointers, maintaining the lead at six and after a small 4-0 run by OBU, hit another to turn a 69-68 lead into a four-point advantage with 55 seconds left.
Allen would miss a jumper on the ensuing possession, forcing OBU to foul junior Griffin Brady. Still in the bonus, Brady missed his first opportunity, and a chance to ice the game. At the other end, OBU's D.J. Hearvy managed to draw a foul from Hopfgartner, sending him to the line for two. He would miss both, but OBU's Bryon Miller claimed the offensive board and stuck a put-back while taking a foul from D.J. Feitl.
Miller could convert the old-fashioned three-point play, pulling the hosts back to a one-point game, 74-73.
Baptist quickly fouled Hopfgartner, but like Brady, couldn't convert on the front-end of his bonus attempt and Miller grabbed the rebound. Moving quickly down the court, Allen drew a foul on freshman Matt Ledford, giving the Bison a chance to win the game at the line with four seconds left.
Allen would make both attempts, giving OBU its first lead since the 16:55 mark of the half, but would momentarily make a critical mistake. On the inbounds, Feitl received a Brady throw-in at half court, but Allen would foul Feitl in his attempt to intercept the pass.
These free throws the Golden Eagles wouldn't miss.
After an OBU timeout and attempt to freeze Feitl, he calmly sank both shots, his only two attempts at the line on the evening, with just over a second left. The Bison last-second launch would fall short, handing John Brown a narrow 76-75 win.
"I am so proud of the way our guys fought for the whole 40 minutes today," said JBU head coach Jason Beschta after the victory. "It wasn't pretty with our early turnovers, but our defense was solid and we were able to get some big buckets off the bench."
The needed spark off the bench came in the form of Erickson, who hit 5 of 6 chances behind the arc to finish with a career-high 15 points. Brady converted 3 of 5 chances from the floor to add six points and a game-high eight rebounds while Anderson poured in his only attempt on the afternoon and added a pair at the line to finish with four points. JBU reserves out-scored the Bison bench 25-2.
"Julian really stroked it tonight, and his threes in the first half especially kept us in the game and we did a great job in the second half taking care of the ball," Beschta added. "A lot of guys made shots for us, and Max really shot the ball well in the second half.
"After OBU took the lead in the last seconds, D.J. made a smart play drawing the foul. We need to continue to get better every day."
Hopfgartner shot 4 of 5 from long range and capped off an 8 of 11 afternoon from the floor with a team-high 22 points, 18 of which came in the second half. Feitl added 13 points and three assists while sophomore Zach English shot a perfect 2 of 2 from the floor and added seven points in the win.
JBU only committed three turnovers in the second half after 12 miscues in the first stanza. Behind Erickson and Hopfgartner, the Golden Eagles connected on 10-of-19 chances from bonus range and finished 27-of-48 from the field (56.3 percent). The Bison shot 47.3 percent (26-of-5) in the loss.
Allen poured in a game-high 28 for Baptist while Aaron Abram (16), Bryon Miller (12) and Cale Jackson (10) each finished in double figures. Oklahoma Baptist has now lost consecutive home games and falls into a tie with JBU with a 6-6 league record.
The Golden Eagles return to the court Thursday (Feb. 12) when it hosts conference leader Mid-America Christian (Okla.) at 8 p.m.
Sports on 02/11/2015