FORT WORTH, Texas -- Sophomore Zach English poured in a career-high 20 points and the John Brown University men's basketball team broke a five-game losing skid and moved to 3-3 against ranked opponents this season with an 85-78 win Thursday over No. 17 Texas Wesleyan inside the Sid Richardson Center.
In a matchup that featured 11 lead changes in the second half and 17 total, John Brown (11-6, 3-2 SAC) rode English, senior Max Hopfgartner and junior D.J. Feitl to its second road conference win of the season. English completed his career-best performance by knocking down all seven free throw attempts and by converting 3 of 6 chances from 3-point range. Hopfgartner finished 6 of 12 from the field to factor in with a team-leading 21 points while Feitl, in his first appearance off the bench, shot 4 of 8 in the second half to contribute 19 points in the win. Junior Griffin Brady, the fourth JBU player to finish in double figures, went 6 of 7 from the stripe and chipped in with 13 points and a team-best seven rebounds.
"I am so proud of our guys and how they rallied around each other to pull out a tough victory over a ranked opponent," said JBU head coach Jason Beschta. "We weathered the storm early as we got down and came back with some big defensive stops to keep it close in the first half.
"Our offense really got going in the second half and we were able to find each other for some great looks. It was great to see Max step up and make some huge plays for us offensively. We had contributions and several big plays from a number of players. Zach did such a great job shooting and scoring for us. He really provided the big scoring punch we needed."
Usually its Achilles' heel, John Brown forced TWU into more turnovers than it committed, 12-11, as both teams scored 10 points as a result of miscues. Also in a reversal of the norm, the JBU bench outscored the Wesleyan reserves, 29-5.
The matchup of teams needing a victory was highlighted by six lead changes in the first 6 minutes, 43 seconds of the game. Down by seven, 20-13, the Golden Eagles slowly began to crawl their way back into the contest on a steady diet of triples. Feitl knocked down the first trey at the 11:12 mark before freshman Julian Erickson came off the bench to provide another three-pointer with 7:52 remaining in the half. Both teams went scoreless for nearly 90 seconds until English dropped his second triple of the half with 5:29 remaining. On the next possession, English converted a pair from the line to tie the score at 26 apiece.
Unlike other contests, the Golden Eagles held close until the half, battling to a four-point game, 35-31 at the intermission.
Neither team shot well in the first half as JBU posted a mere 32.1 percent shooting effort, compared to a 38.9 percent clip from the hosts.
Similar to their last game, JBU came out firing in the second half, featuring a pair of Hopfgartner triples and a three-point play conversion from English, handing the visitors its first lead of the game, 42-39. However, the Rams wouldn't led John Brown pull away as the hosts tied the score seven times down the stretch in the second half.
Finally, with 4:05 left in the contest, Feitl hit a layup to return the lead for good to JBU, 71-69. The Golden Eagles would then begin a march to the free-throw line, where the visitors posted a 17 of 23 mark in the second half (73.9 percent). Eventually, the lead ballooned to 10, 82-72, until a few last-minute 3-pointers from the Rams closed the score at 85-78.
Hopfgartner scored 19 of his team-leading 21 points in the second half.
"I am excited for our guys as they got another glimpse of how good we can be when we play together," Beschta said. "Any win in this league is tough, especially when you're on the road and this team tonight was a talented team."
Three players scored 86 percent of the points for the Rams (12-3, 2-3 SAC) as Sam Akano netted a game-high 28 points on 12-of-21 shooting from the floor. Merv Lindsay scored 23 points while Jerrell Ellis notched 16 points on the strength of three triples. Chris Gracela came off the bench to pull down a game-high 13 rebounds in the loss.
The game was statistically close in every category but one, free throw shooting. JBU finished 26 of 33 from the line (78.8 percent) as the Rams ended with just 15 attempts, converting on eight (53.3 percent). The visitors shot 43.9 percent from the floor (25 of 57) while TWU scored at a 42.5 percent rate (31 of 73). The Rams outrebounded JBU, 44-39.
JBU returned to action on Saturday against Southwestern Assemblies of God. Results were not available at presstime.
Sports on 01/18/2015