MidAmerica Nazarene sweeps JBU in final day of tournament

SILOAM SPRINGS — MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) wasn’t going to leave John Brown’s shooters unguarded on Saturday night.

It paid off the Pioneers as JBU didn’t get many good looks offensively and MidAmerica Nazarene defeated the Golden Eagles 58-49 in a battle of NAIA ranked teams on the final day of the John Brown Classic inside Bill George Arena.

JBU ( 4- 2), which was ranked No. 12 in the NAIA Preseason Poll, finished 16 of 50 from the field and 4 of 16 from behind the 3-point line.

In order to guard the Golden Eagles the way they wanted, the No. 19 Pioneers went one-on-one with JBU’s Baily Cameron and limited her to 12 points on the night.

“The Baily Cameron kid is an excellent player,” said MNU coach Jon Lewis. “Both posts are excellent players and we had to go one- onone with them because we couldn’t leave shooters. We were just going to see what happened. (Cameron) didn’t have the best night, but she is an All-American — 12 points we’ll take.”

Pioneers post Jovana Jovovic, meanwhile, dropped a game- high 27 points for MNU (4-1), including four 3-pointers. The Pioneers also grabbed 17 offensive rebounds and forced 19 JBU turnovers.

“Offensively in the first half we were scared,” said JBU coach Jeff Soderquist. “We played scared, and this team is having issues with turnovers.”

JBU led 11-7 after the first quarter, but MNU outscored the Golden Eagles 19-8 in the second quarter to go up 26-19 at halftime.

The lead reached double digits in the second half, but JBU was able to cut it to 4844 int he fourth quarter after a Cameron basket. MNU was able to hit free throws down the stretch to put the game away.

MIDAMERICA NAZARENE 58, JOHN BROWN 49

M.A. Nazarene .... 7 19 18 14 — 58 John Brown ....... 11 8 16 14 — 49 MidAmerica Nazarene (4-1): Jovovic 27, Wicks 7, Daniel 7, Moia 6, Washington 4, Wagler 4, Cook 3. John Brown (4-2): Cameron 12, Deines 9, Martin 9, Reece 4, Fergen 3, Teague 3, Orpo 3, Skrastina 2, Schammel 2, Chandra 2.

MIDAMERICA NAZARENE 91, JOHN BROWN 82

MidAmerica Nazarene hit 10 of 13 from behind the 3-point line and led by as 29 points in the first half before holding off a JBU rally in the second half.

The Golden Eagles (4-2), led by a 36-point effort from Jake Caudle, got back to within six points of tying the score, but the No. 18 Pioneers got some clutch buckets from Mitchell McMullen down the stretch to help stave off the rally.

McMullen led all MNU players with 25 points, while Kellan Turner had 17, Jonathan Green 15 and Gabriel Jordan 12.

Jaylon Rucker added 13 points off the bench for JBU, while Brenton Toussaint added 10.

MIDAMERICA NAZARENE 91, JOHN BROWN 82

M.A. Nazarene ... 55 36 — 91

John Brown ....... 31 51 — 82 MidAmerica Nazarene (6-0): McMullen 25, Turner 17, Green 15, Jordan 12, Scroggins 7, Ostertag 6, Welty 5, Chrisman 4.

John Brown (4-2): Caudle 36, Rucker 13, Toussaint 10, Bowling 9, Corder 5, Carnes 4, Smith 3, Hart 2.