On an evening where its leading scorer was limited to nine points, the John Brown University men's basketball team still pieced together a near 20-point comeback and continued the momentum into overtime, capturing a 100-91 win over Bacone (Okla.) on Tuesday night inside Bill George Arena.
Junior Jake Caudle finished with just nine points, but junior Josh Bowling and freshman Nathan Corder stepped up to take up some of the offensive slack at just the right time. Bowling and Corder each led with 21 points, while Corder scored 14 of his career-high mark in the second half. Freshman Rokas Grabliauskas added 12 of his 14 on the evening in the second stanza, both heavily contributing to a massive JBU comeback.
As in most of its Sooner Athletic contests thus far, the Golden Eagles faced a 19-point deficit, 63-44, with 12:35 left in the contest, but at that point, JBU finished the second half shooting 14-of-18 from the floor (77.8 percent) and finally tied the game with just 19 seconds left to play.
JBU's deficit woes started in the first half when Bacone ran away on a 20-5 run to blow open a 30-15 lead after sophomore Brenton Toussaint's thunderous jam tied the game at 10 apiece. Starting 0-of-8 from behind the arc didn't help, but finally sophomore Kristijan Joksimovich's triple as time expired in the first half brought John Brown back within five at the intermission.
While both teams shot over 50 percent in the first half, the Golden Eagles jumped to nearly 60 percent (16-of-27) in the second half, powered by Corder's 5-of-6 mark from the floor, including four triples, while Grabliaskas sank seven of JBU's last 10 points, including an acrobatic and-one conversion with 51 seconds left.
In the final 1:51 of regulation, the Golden Eagles completed a 10-1 run to push the game into overtime.
In the extra session, it was all John Brown as the hosts out-scored Bacone 21-12 as JBU shot 5-of-8 from the floor, hitting all 10 chances at the free throw line. Bacone shot 4-of-9, but the Golden Eagles out-boarded the visitors 6-2.
While the Warriors hit nearly 50 percent of its chances (35-of-71), the Golden Eagles set a season best mark from the field, knocking down 58.3 percent of attempts (35-of-60).
Jordan McNellys also had 21 points and five assists as Corey Swift and Kevin Pritchett contributed 19 and 18 points, respectively. Mauris Hopkins registered 17 in the setback for Bacone.
Science and Arts 64, JBU 63
CHICKASHA, Okla. -- John Brown led by six points at halftime but was unable to hold the lead as the Drovers rallied for the victory on Thursday inside Drover Fieldhouse.
JBU led 34-28 at halftime, but Science and Arts outscored the Golden Eagles 36-29 in the second half.
With the loss, JBU dropped to 10-7 overall and 5-4 in the Sooner Athletic Conference.
A complete statistical breakdown of the game was not available at presstime.
Up next
The Golden Eagles returned to action Saturday at home against Mid-America Christian. Results were not available at presstime. JBU is back in action on Thursday at home against Central Christian (Kan.).
Sports on 01/21/2018