Ninth-ranked John Brown's two-headed monster of Densier Carnes and Luke Harper came through again Saturday afternoon.
Carnes and Harper, the Golden Eagles' top two scorers at 14.6 and 18.4 points per game, respectively, combined for 50 in an 85-68 win over Southwestern Christian at Bill George Arena.
Sooner Athletic Conference Basketball Standings
MEN^CONFERENCE^OVERALL
^W-L^W-L
Mid-America Christian^15-1^25-1
John Brown^14-2^23-3
SW Assemblies of God^12-4^20-4
Texas Wesleyan^11-5^18-7
Wayland Baptist^9-7^16-9
Southwestern Christian^6-10^13-11
Oklahoma City^6-10^14-12
Science and Arts^6-10^12-14
Langston^5-11^13-13
Central Christian^4-12^11-13
Panhandle State^0-16^4-20
Last week
February 13
John Brown 88, Oklahoma City 82 (OT)
Mid-America Christian 80, Southwestern Assemblies of God 79
Wayland Baptist 72, Central Christian 67
Texas Wesleyan 105, Science and Arts 97
Langston 77, Panhandle State 67
February 15
John Brown 85, Southwestern Christian 68
Southwestern Assemblies of God 99, Science and Arts 94
Central Christian 60, Panhandle State 55
Mid-America Chrisitan 94, Texas Wesleyan 89
Oklahoma City 98, Bacone 82
Wayland Baptist 80, Langston 75
This week
Tuesday’s games
Wayland Baptist at Panhandle State (n)
Thursday’s games
Panhandle State at John Brown
Southwestern Christian at Science and Arts
Oklahoma City at Mid-AMerica Christian
Texas Wesleyan at Central Christian
Southwestern Assemblies of God at Langston
Wayland Baptist at Bacone
Saturday’s games
Wayland Baptist at John Brown
Mid-America Christian at Southwestern Christian
Science and Arts at Oklahoma City
Southwestern Assemblies of God at Central Christian
Panhandle State at Bacone
Texas Wesleyan at Langston
"To have two different guys capable of going off, and I think two guys who can also go get their own shots, I think that's a big thing," said JBU head coach Jason Beschta. "If you've got to rely on other people a little more, it can be harder sometimes to get going. Both of those guys are just really adept at creating their own shots. It's great to see."
Carnes and Harper were at their best when JBU (23-3, 14-2 Sooner Athletic Conference) needed them the most.
JBU led by 14 midway through the second half when a Southwestern Christian run sliced the Golden Eagles' lead down to 55-52 with 8:45 remaining.
Harper responded by hitting six-straight free throws on JBU's next three offensive possessions. Carnes followed that with a three-pointer and a pair of free throws of his own as JBU got the lead back to 68-54 with 5:30 remaining.
Carnes finished with 27 points, including five-straight 3-pointers. Harper had 23 points, highlighted by going 10 of 10 from the free-throw line.
"We needed Densier to show a night where he was going to fire some shots and knock them down," said JBU head coach Jason Beschta. "Sometimes he gets hesitant if he misses one or two. And to see Luke battle back from a rough first half shooting-wise and to come back and be really aggressive in the second half and knock shots down was really exciting to see."
Kiree Hutchings hit three late 3-pointers and finished with 13 points as JBU maintained its double digit lead the rest of the way. Ira Perrier also had an emphatic slam dunk to help the Golden Eagles finish off the visiting SCU Eagles.
"We've been saying we need to come away with one of these statement kind of wins, where we push it to double figures and come away with it," Beschta said. "I'd certainly love to have done that early in the game and keep it there, but again it just shows who we are, to be able to do that in (the middle of) a game. A team comes back at us and we're going to push right back. Guys continue to make plays, and we've done that all year so it's great to see it."
JBU finished 28 of 58 from the floor and 10 of 26 from long range.
Darius Madkin led Southwestern Christian (13-11, 6-10) with 21 points, while Charles Dickson had 16 and Richard Anderson 10.
SCU head coach Brandon Rollins gave credit to the Golden Eagles.
"That's the ninth-ranked team in the country," Rollins said. "They know how to win. They've won so many close games. When it matters, when the rubber meets the road, they always make a play. Carnes was really good in the second half. They tend to get a rebound or make a shot every time. It's hard to get over the hump against them. Their coaches do a great job of getting the mismatches. We just couldn't adjust to the refs. We couldn't guard them. They did an excellent job."
The Golden Eagles remained in second place behind Mid-America Christian (25-1, 15-1) with four games remaining in the regular season. JBU hosts Panhandle State (Okla.) on Thursday before playing its final regular season home game on Saturday against Wayland Baptist.
"You've got to get the next four to have any chance and hope MACU slips up somewhere," Beschta said of JBU's chase at a SAC regular season title. "Every game is going to matter, but still we've just got to focus on one (at a time). You can't look past a team like Panhandle, which is the next game. For them they've struggled this year and this game could make their season at the end of all of it if they could come away with one big win. We've got to be really solid, make sure we're ready to take care of business just at the next game and focus on one at a time."
John Brown 85, Southwestern Christian 68
Southwestern Christian^23^45^--^68
John Brown^29^56^--^85
Southwestern Christian (13-11, 6-10): Madkin 21, Dickson 16, Anderson 10, Henderson 8, Dantzler-Fulner 5, White 4, Washington 2, Wynn 2.
John Brown (23-3, 14-2): Carnes 27, Harper 23, Hutchings 13, Perrier 7, Bailey 6, Grabliauskas 5, Beckom 2, Stolz 2.
Sports on 02/19/2020