Men suffer first loss

n The Golden Eagles return to action Tuesday at home against Ozark Christian (Mo.).

November 12, 2017 at 5:00 a.m.

by JBU Sports Information

Photo courtesy of Benedictine College John Brown junior Josh Bowling shoots over a pair of Benedictine players during last Tuesday's game in Atchison, Kan. Bowling scored 11 points as the Ravens defeated the Golden Eagles 73-71 for JBU's first loss of the season. The Golden Eagles returned to action Saturday at Evangel (Mo.). Results were not available at presstime. John Brown will be back in action at home at 8 p.m. this Tuesday against Ozark Christian (Mo.).
Photo courtesy of Benedictine College John Brown junior Josh Bowling shoots over a pair of Benedictine players during last Tuesday's game in Atchison, Kan. Bowling scored 11 points as the Ravens defeated the Golden Eagles 73-71 for JBU's first loss of the season. The Golden Eagles returned to action Saturday at Evangel (Mo.). Results were not available at presstime. John Brown will be back in action at home at 8 p.m. this Tuesday against Ozark Christian (Mo.).

ATCHISON, Kan. -- A 22-5 first-half run wouldn't hold as the John Brown University men's basketball team was out-scored 56-40 from that point on as host No. 20 Benedictine (Kan.) escaped with a 73-71 win on Tuesday night inside Ralph Nolan Gymnasium.

In the Golden Eagles' (1-1) first road outing of the season, junior Marquis Waller led a trio in double-figure scoring with 12 points on 8 of 8 shooting from the line, while adding a team-best eight rebounds. Junior Josh Bowling added 11 points and five boards while sophomore Brenton Toussaint shot 5-of-8 from the floor to score 10 points in the loss.

JBU leading scorer Jake Caudle was limited to just eight points before fouling out as JBU shot just 38.1 percent from the field (24 of 63), while the Ravens (1-1) hit 46.3 percent of its attempts from the floor, converting 25 of 54.

At the 6:28 mark of the first half, junior Benjamin Smith hit a triple to give the visitors a commanding 31-17 lead, but JBU couldn't score a field goal for the remainder of the half, and the Ravens rebounded with a 16-4 run to close the first half, narrowing the gap to just two points.

After the seventh tie of the game at 57, Benedictine pulled out to a seven-point lead, 66-59, until Bowling converted an and-one and Smith put back a Waller miss to bring the deficit back to just four.

The lead grew back to six with just 42 seconds remaining, but a Rokas Grabliauskas pair of conversions at the line and a Waller field goal brought JBU back within just one point with six seconds left. After a quick foul, Benedictine could only convert the front end, leaving Bowling with the rebound on the back end. Out of time, Bowling heaved up a shot that wouldn't fall.

JBU won the battle of the boards, 39-35, along with a 14-6 second-chance points advantage and a 21-16 margin in bench scoring.

JBU returned to action on Saturday in Springfield, Mo., against Evangel (Mo.). Results were not available at presstime. The Golden Eagles are back at home this Tuesday at 8 p.m. against Ozark Christian (Mo.).

Sports on 11/12/2017