The John Brown men's basketball team got two important things out of Saturday's nonconference 94-49 win against Ecclesia at Bill George Arena.
The first was the game gave the Golden Eagles another chance to compete in what could have been an off Saturday. JBU was previously scheduled to play at St. Gregory's on Saturday, but that game was canceled when St. Gregory's announced it was closing its school.
Sooner Athletic Conference Basketball Standings
MEN^CONFERENCE^OVERALL
^W-L^W-L
Oklahoma City^10-4^17-5
Texas Wesleyan^10-4^16-7
Science and Arts^9-5^18-5
SW Assemblies of God^9-5^15-7
Wayland Baptist^7-6^15-7
John Brown^7-6^13-9
Mid-America Christian^7-7^13-9
Southwestern Christian^7-7^13-10
Central Christian^5-9^12-10
Panhandle State^4-9^11-10
Bacone^0-13^3-19
Last week
February 1
John Brown 77, Southwestern Christian 63
Mid-America Christian 74, Central Christian 61
Oklahoma City 114, Science and Arts 108 (2OT)
SW Assemblies of God 108, Wayland Baptist 106 (2OT)
Texas Wesleyan 112, Panhandle State 71
February 3
John Brown 94, Ecclesia 49
Oklahoma City 83, Mid America Christian 69
SW Assemblies of God 129, Panhandle State 62
Texas Wesleyan 68, Wayland Baptist 66
Central Christian 85, Science and Arts 67
Southwestern Christian 93, Bacone 68
This week
Thursday’s games
John Brown at Mid-America Christian
Oklahoma City at Panhandle State
Bacone at Science and Arts
Central Christian at Wayland Baptist
Southwestern Christian at SW Assemblies of God
Saturday’s games
Science and Arts at John Brown
Oklahoma City at Wayland Baptist
Mid-America Christian at Bacone
Central Christian at Panhandle State
Texas Wesleyan at Southwestern Christian
WOMEN^CONFERENCE^OVERALL
^W-L^W-L
Science and Arts^12-2^20-3
Oklahoma City^12-2^19-4
Wayland Baptist^11-2^18-3
Mid-America Christian^9-5^15-7
John Brown^8-5^14-8
Bacone^5-8^14-9
SW Assemblies of God^5-9^8-12
Texas Wesleyan^5-9^7-15
Panhandle State^4-9^12-9
Southwestern Christian^4-10^8-12
Central Christian^0-14^1-21
Last week’s games
February 1
John Brown 77, Southwestern Christian 61
Mid-America Christian 116, Central Christian 68
Science and Arts 76, Oklahoma City 62
Wayland Baptist 91, SW Assemblies of God 64
Panhandle State 71, Texas Wesleyan 63
February 3
Arkansas-Fort Smith 74, John Brown 31 (Exhibition)
Oklahoma City 85, Mid America Christian 73
SW Assemblies of God 73, Panhandle State 58
Wayland Baptist 94, Texas Wesleyan 66
Science and Arts 88, Central Christian 49
Bacone 86, Southwestern Christian 81
This week
Thursday’s games
John Brown at Mid-America Christian
Oklahoma City at Panhandle State
Bacone at Science and Arts
Central Christian at Wayland Baptist
Southwestern Christian at SW Assemblies of God
Saturday’s games
Science and Arts at John Brown
Oklahoma City at Wayland Baptist
Mid-America Christian at Bacone
Central Christian at Panhandle State
Texas Wesleyan at Southwestern Christian
"I think the biggest thing is it gave us another chance to compete," said JBU coach Jason Beschta. "With a group of young players, we don't need another day of practice, we need another day to compete. For some guys who don't play as much or haven't been playing that well, it was better than just having another practice."
The second -- and maybe the most important for JBU -- was it got Josh Bowling going again.
Bowling -- a 6-foot-6 junior -- came off the bench and hit all eight of his field goal attempts, including four 3-pointers, and led JBU with 20 points.
"We needed to see Josh Bowling play well," Beschta said.
Bowling came into the game as JBU's second leading scorer at 11.4 points per night behind team leader Jake Caudle at 19.5. But Bowling's offensive production has slipped as of late. Through his first 13 games, he was averaging 13.1 points and he's dipped to just 8.6 over his last eight games.
"Hopefully that jump-starts him and gives him confidence as we head into the rest of conference play."
The Golden Eagles (13-9) scored the game's first 16 points and built up a 20-point halftime lead against the Royals (1-14), who JBU defeated 97-65 in the Toilet Paper Game on Nov. 4 to open the season.
JBU substituted liberally in the second half but still increased its lead over the last 20 minutes.
Twelve of the 13 JBU players that played scored points. Caudle scored all 11 of his points in the first half and led with seven rebounds. Denzier Carnes also had seven rebounds and added nine points for JBU.
The Golden Eagles hit 32 of 61 shots from the field, including 13 of 31 from behind the 3-point line.
Dequcelan Bagsby led Ecclesia with 15 points.
John Brown returns to action on Thursday at Mid-America Christian before returning home to face Science and Arts on Saturday. MACU defeated John Brown 88-74 on Jan. 20, while the Drovers defeated the Golden Eagles 64-63 in Chickasha, Okla., on Jan. 18.
"That MACU game, obviously every one's important, but it's also important in that you don't want to get swept by anybody," Beschta said. "Science and Arts, I think that's a team we matched up well against. They had a hard time guarding our posts. We had chances. I think we're a good matchup for them."
UA-Fort Smith 74, JBU 31
FORT SMITH -- The JBU women were defeated by Arkansas-Fort Smith on Saturday inside Stubblefield Center in a regular season game for the Lions and an exhibition for the Golden Eagles.
UAFS led 12-8 after the first quarter and 26-17 at halftime. The Lions (15-8) went to a full court press defense in the second half and never let up and outscored JBU 48-14 in the second half, including 27-3 in the fourth quarter.
Lundon Williams led UAFS with 17 points, while Tamera Gulley had 16 and Ellie Lehne had 12. Jordan Martin led JBU (14-8) with 11 points, while Rosa Orpo had nine. Three of JBU's regular players -- Baily Cameron, Kimmy Deines and Jana Schammel -- did not play in the game.
Sports on 02/07/2018