Camidge, Oklahoma City muscle past John Brown

SILOAM SPRINGS — Senior guard Ridell Camidge had a big night for Oklahoma City on Saturday, and the Stars needed every bit of it to get a victory at John Brown.

Camidge, a Division I transfer for OCU, pumped in 42 points, including eight in overtime as the Stars left Bill George Arena with a 103-95 victory.

Camidge finished the night hitting 14 of 22 shots from the field, including 7 of 12 from behind the 3-point line. He also grabbed 10 rebounds.

“[Camidge] is a high-volume shooter,” Oklahoma City coach Vinay Patel said. “I think he’s one of the best shooters in our conference if not the country. That’s one of the reasons we went out and found him. We needed to improve shooting ability from last year, our perimeter shooting ability. He hit shots. That’s what he does.”

Camidge’s big night overshadowed a pair of other outstanding performances, including one by his teammate Samuel Williams, who finished with 27 points and 12 rebounds.

“They’ve got so many weapons,” John Brown coach Jason Beschta said of OCU. “I mean [Camidge] is a phenonmial player. We know he’s capable of scoring in bunches. … He scored in every which way.

“We knew [Williams] was good. We didn’t have a real good answer for him tonight.”

John Brown was led by career-high 33 points from junior Josh Bowling.

Tied at 85 at the end of regulation, Bowling hit a 3-pointer to open overtime and give the Golden Eagles a 88-85 lead. But Camidge answered with a floater and then hit two free throws to give the Stars a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

John Brown, meanwhile, missed its next six shots from the field after Bowling’s 3-pointer to open overtime. Making matters worse for the Golden Eagles were they went 1 of 6 from the freethrow line in the extra period.

Jake Caudle added 17 points for JBU (6-4, 2-1), while Marquis Waller had 13 and Nathan Corder 10. Oklahoma City ... 39 46 18 — 103

John Brown....... 29 56 10 — 95 Oklahoma City (8-2, 2-1): Camidge 42, Williams 27, Christman 9, Saicic 8, Rickett 6, Dunbar 6, Bonhomme 5.

John Brown (6-4, 2-1): Bowling 33, Caudle 17, Waller 13, Corder 10, Grabliauskas 8, Smith 7, Rucker 4, Toussaint 3.

WOMEN OKLAHOMA CITY 65, JOHN BROWN 60

No. 18 John Brown trailed by 12 points at halftime but rallied in the second half to take a brief 57-56 lead with 4 minutes, 21 seconds left on two free throws from Jordan Martin.

But Oklahoma City’s Michaela Kay hit a 3-pointer on the Stars next possession and the defending national champion and eighth-ranked Stars would never trail again.

Taylor LaCour followed with a jump shot to make it 61-57 and NaShyla Hammons added a big bucket after Baily Cameron’s score had cut the lead back to 61-59.

“John Brown is so dangerous because of all five players that they have on the floor all the time can shoot,” Oklahoma City coach Bo Overton said. “A lot of teams you can not cover a player and you can help and things like that. With them you’ve got to guard everybody. I thought in the second half they really proved that and really had us running around to where they were making threes and we were making twos and they were catching up. So I give them a lot of credit, but also we’ve done that all year where teams have come back on us and taken the lead and we’ve responded.”

Cameron led John Brown (7-4, 2-1) with 15 points, while Luize Skrastina had 11. Daniela Galindo led Oklahoma City (9-2, 3-0) with 16 , while Kay had 13, LaCour 12 and Brooke Irwin 10.

Oklahoma City ... 20 15 15 15 — 65 John Brown....... 16 7 23 14 — 60 Oklahoma City (9-2, 3-0: Galindo 16, Kay 13, LaCour 12, Irwin 10, Hill 8, Hammons 4, Taylor 2.

John Brown (7-4, 2-1): Cameron 15, Skrastina 11, Chandra 8, Deines 7, Martin 6, Reece 5, Schammel 5, Orpo 3.