John Brown men's basketball team got a dominant win Saturday over Oklahoma City and also celebrated an important team member in the process.
The Golden Eagles got out to an early double-digit lead and crushed the Stars 98-74 on senior night at Bill George Arena.
John Brown has three seniors on its roster, Densier Carnes, Brenton Toussaint and Rokas Grabliauskas, but all three have indicated they will be returning for another year of eligibility, head coach Jason Beschta said.
This year will not count toward eligibility and players can return if they choose, Beschta said.
JBU, however, did honor senior student assistant Aaron Kerr of Bentonville and even obtained a waiver from the NAIA to allow Kerr to dress out and start the game on the floor.
In a pre-arranged agreement with Oklahoma City, the Golden Eagles allowed the Stars to score the game's opening bucket. JBU then came down the court on offense and Oklahoma City's defense backed off as the Golden Eagles passed the ball to Kerr at the top of the key.
Kerr launched a 3-point basket which missed, but JBU got the rebound back to him and Kerr drove to the lane untouched for a basket as the small crowd erupted.
"That was so cool," Beschta said. "You could see the guys, everybody getting so excited for (Kerr). He's been so joyful for all the good things for everybody else, so it's awesome for us to be able to reciprocate that back as well."
Luke Harper subbed in shortly after and Kerr left the court to a standing ovation, including from Oklahoma City players.
The Golden Eagles (7-6, 6-6) then went to work, racing out to a 27-13 lead and leading by 20 points at halftime.
JBU would lead by as many as 27 points.
"It's nice to take control of that one early," Beschta said. "That's important in a game like this. It's hard. (OCU) can be a dangerous team when they don't have anything to play for at that point except trying to finish strong and playing with some pride there. To be able to jump on them early kind of set the tone for how this one was going to go so I'm really proud of the way our guys did that."
OCU head coach Tim Kisner, an assistant coach at John Brown the past two seasons, was not on the Stars bench on Saturday. On Saturday, Kisner was still listed as the OCU head coach on the team's web site, but Sunday afternoon he was no longer listed. Assistant Cooper Battisti coached the team on Saturday.
Eric Amandio led the Stars (2-6) with 19 points, while Rashaun Coleman had 17, Kealon Clayborne 13 and Romario Spence 12.
Harper led the Golden Eagles with 25 points off the bench on 9 of 16 from the field, including 5 of 9 from behind the 3-point line. Carnes added 17 points while Toussaint had 11. The Golden Eagles hit 37 of 68 from the field and 11 of 32 from behind the 3-point line.
JBU now will travel to Wayland Baptist on Wednesday for the opening round of the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament. The Golden Eagles are the sixth seed and the Pioneers are third. JBU will likely need to win the tournament to advance to the NAIA National Tournament.
"Our goal has always been after that first week where we lost three games -- it wasn't about winning the league -- it was let's be at our best when we get to the conference tournament," Beschta said. "Let's get used to everybody being together. We're back. We've got everybody in and I think we're playing some of our best basketball."
John Brown 98, Oklahoma City 74
Oklahoma City^28^46^--^74
John Brown^48^50^--^98
Oklahoma City (2-6, 2-6): Amandio 19, Coleman 17, Clayborne 13, Spence 12, Guest 6, Birt 4, Ghomsi 3.
John Brown (7-6, 6-6): Harper 25, Carnes 17, Toussaint 11, Perrier 9, Grabliauskas 7, Beckom 7, Ellis 6, Taylor 5, Obradovic 4, Morphis 3, Robinson 2, Kerr 2.