John Brown blows by Central Christian

MEN’S BASKETBALL JOHN BROWN 96, CENTRAL CHRISTIAN (KAN.) 71

SILOAM SPRINGS — John Brown ended any hope of a Central Christian (Kan.) comeback with its start to the second half.

The Golden Eagles opened the second half on a 13-0 surge to turn a comfortable lead into a blowout in a 96-71 victory in a Sooner Athletic Conference men’s basketball game Thursday night at Bill George Arena.

The blowout win was a big change of pace for JBU, which has trailed by double digits in all but one of its conference games this season.

“We haven’t really been in this situation in conference where we’ve had a big lead,” said JBU head coach Jason Beschta. “We don’t expect to get a blowout-type lead in any game in this league. We know how dangerous Central Christian can be. I didn’t feel like what we had at halftime was enough. I told our guys we’ve got to come out and hit them first. Our guys really responded. It’s demoralizing to a team when their opponent keeps hitting shots.

JBU led by double digits for most of the first half and went into halftime with a 4529 lead.

Central Christian (10-9, 3-8) opened the second half with a basket by Jubril Osagie to get within 45-31. The Golden Eagles (11-8, 6-5) responded by scoring the next 13 points. Josh Bowling had 11 of those Golden Eagles points, including back-to-back 3-pointers to take a 58-31 lead.

The Golden Eagles enjoyed a strong shooting night, going 35 of 63 (55.6 percent) from the field and 13 of 26 from behind the 3-point line.

Jake Caudle led a balanced scoring attack for the Golden Eagles with 17 points, while Bowling had 16 points and four 3-pointers. Ben Smith added 10 points for JBU and Densier Carnes and Rokas Grabliauskas nine each.

JBU led by as many as 35 points in the second half before Central Christian cut the final deficit to 25.

WOMEN

JOHN BROWN 94, CENTRAL CHRISTIAN 54

John Brown’s women got off to a sizzling start shooting the basketball Thursday night in its win over Central Christian (1-18, 0-11).

The Golden Eagles hit 12 of their first 13 shots from the field, including the first seven overall, along with swishing their first eight 3-point attempts.

“I thought we jumped on them early,” JBU head coach Jeff Soderquist said. “It was good to see us do that.”

The Golden Eagles (13-7, 7-4) took a 30-11 lead after the first quarter and led 45-26 at halftime after a little bit of a second quarter soon.

JBU picked it back up in the third quarter, outscoring Central Christian 32-15 to take a 77-41 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Junior Baily Cameron was 8 of 12 from the field and led JBU with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Jordan Martin hit all six of her shots from the field — all from behind the 3-point line — and scored 18 points.

Senior Jana Schammel scored 12 points and senior Luize Skrastina added 10 points.