Stars cool off Golden Eagles

n Oklahoma City keeps JBU from third straight win

Graham Thomas/Siloam Sunday John Brown senior Josh Bowling, left, looks to pass as Oklahoma City's Anthony Davis defends during Thursday's game at Bill George Arena.
Graham Thomas/Siloam Sunday John Brown senior Josh Bowling, left, looks to pass as Oklahoma City's Anthony Davis defends during Thursday's game at Bill George Arena.

By Graham Thomas

Staff Writer n [email protected]

Coming off two big road-wins against Top 25 teams, the John Brown men's basketball team was unable to get a third straight win against a ranked opponent on Thursday night.

Oklahoma City, ranked No. 14, outscored the newly 23rd-ranked Golden Eagles 29-15 over the final 12 minutes, 22 seconds of the second half to take a 89-75 victory at Bill George Arena.

JBU had previously picked up wins at then No. 18 Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) and No. 11 Texas Wesleyan on Nov. 29 and Dec. 1, respectively, heading into Thursday night's game.

Head coach Jason Beschta said the Golden Eagles were excited about returning home for another big game and "certainly" disappointed in the outcome.

"The thing that stands out for us are things like, we weren't tougher than them," Beschta said. "I think anybody that would have watched us tonight would have thought we lost the toughness battle big-time tonight."

Aside from an early-game surge from Oklahoma City (7-2, 2-1 Sooner Athletic Conference), where the Stars led 24-13, the game was very even until midway through the second half.

Two free throws from Josh Bowling tied the game 60-60 with 12:22 remaining, but Oklahoma City got the lead back for good on its next possession on a basket by Anthony Davis.

JBU (7-3, 3-1) kept it close for a while after that, and Desmond Kennedy's free throws with 6:37 left cut the Stars' lead to 72-69.

Oklahoma City then went on a 10-0 run to take control and finished off JBU with a 17-6 surge over the final minutes.

The Stars' finish was a relief to Oklahoma City coach Vinay Patel, who said there were plenty of concerns about playing John Brown heading into Thursday's game.

"Using the word 'hot team' is probably an understatement," Patel said. "(John Brown was) probably the hottest team in the league after going and winning at SAGU and at Texas Wesleyan. That's probably one of the hardest road trips in its entirety. Going to both places and coming away with wins is very impressive to start league play by John Brown. We were really concerned.

"I told Jason after the game, I think they've got a tremendous team and they're going to win a lot of games this year. I'm very proud of the effort that our team had."

Patel said one of the focuses was to neutralize the Golden Eagles' 3-point shooting, and the Stars did that, holding JBU to just 6 of 20 from behind the 3-point line.

"John Brown's a team that was averaging almost 13 made threes a game," Patel said. "One of our focuses was to take the 3-point line away. For them to only make six tonight was a big win for our defense."

The Stars were able to hold senior guard Jake Caudle, JBU's leading scorer, to just two points, well below his season average of 15.3 points per game and he missed all six of his 3-point shots.

"Jake's been such a good player in our conference over the years," Patel said. "I was just telling our radio people, I think he's a great ambassador of our conference, not only because he's a great player but just talking to coach Beschta he seems like he's a really good kid as well. He has really hurt us over the years. To do a great job on him was really nice."

Beschta said Caudle has yet to play at full strength this season after being hobbled by an ankle injury prior to the start of the season.

"They did a really good job (on Caudle), and there's just some things he's got to keep learning from," Beschta said. "I think when your shot's not falling then you start pressing. I think that's what he was doing tonight."

Beschta said Caudle is probably playing at 75 percent and they're hoping he'll be able to rest up on Christmas break and come back strong for the second half of the season.

" Jake's the most teachable guy we have," Beschta said. "He'll learn from the things we're telling him."

Meanwhile the Stars splashed 12 of 27 from long range, including 3-pointers from Eric Wattree and Chris Williams in the final five minutes that helped the Stars pull away.

Williams led six Oklahoma City players in double figures with 18 points, while Davis had 16, Bryant had 14, Joe Clarke 12, Eric McCollum 11 and Elijah Christman 10.

Bowling had another strong scoring performance against Oklahoma City with 28 points after scoring 33 against the Stars in an overtime loss at Bill George Arena last season.

"I told Josh Bowling after the game, it would be nice to see you have a bad game against us one time," Patel said. "They've got a really good team, and we are very fortunate to come away with a road victory over here today."

Kennedy chipped in 13 points for JBU, while Brenton Toussaint had 12.

The Golden Eagles hit 24 of 48 shots from the field and 21 of 25 from the free-throw line. The Golden Eagles committed 16 turnovers with just six assists.

"We had 11 or 12 turnovers in the second half that led to a lot of fast break buckets for them," Beschta said. "We had six assists on the night where there were a lot more out there, but we were driving into problems. If Brent and if Josh weren't getting it done for us, we were struggling to score tonight."

The game was JBU's final home game of the 2018 calendar year. The next home game will be Jan. 3 against Central Christian.

The Golden Eagles were scheduled to return to action Saturday at Southwestern Christian (Okla.). Results were not available at presstime.

JBU is back in action on Dec. 17-18 in the Webber International (Fla.) Christmas Shootout in Babson Park, Fla. The Golden Eagles will play Johnson (Fla.) on Dec. 17 and Fontbonne (Mo.) on Dec. 18.

Oklahoma City 89, John Brown 75

Oklahoma City 48 41 -- 89

John Brown 43 32 -- 75

Oklahoma City (7-2, 2-1): Williams 18, Davis 16, Bryant 14, Clarke 12, McCollum 11, Christman 10, Wattree 8.

John Brown (7-3, 3-1): Bowling 28, Kennedy 13, Toussaint 12, Harper 8, Grabliauskas 6, Caudle 2, Perrier 2, Carnes 2, Bailey 2.

Sports on 12/09/2018