USAO downs JBU in SAC semifinals

SCIENCE & ARTS 72, JOHN BROWN 62

SILOAM SPRINGS — Coach Darrick Matthews wanted to avoid a repeat performance during his return to Bill George Arena on Friday.

His top-seeded University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma squad delivered with a 72-62 victory against No. 5 John Brown University to advance to today’s 1 p.m. Sooner Athletic Conference championship game against Oklahoma City.

The Drovers (27-4) avenged a 70-60 loss to the Golden Eagles on Feb. 10. Matthews was ejected from that game after getting tagged with back-to-back technical fouls. A JBU campus safety officer came onto the court to stop him from arguing with an official during a timeout. Matthews, who said he sent an apology letter to JBU afterward, wanted to put the incident behind him.

“We had a lot of extra motivation on our end coming out,” said Matthews, who was honored as the SAC’s Coach of the Year prior to Friday’s tipoff. “We thought if we didn’t focus on that other stuff and get down on ourselves, then the outcome would be different and be in our favor this time and I’m happy that it was.”

John Brown (19-11) used an 11-4 run that was capped off by Ally Teague’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer to take a 20-13 lead at the end of the first quarter. But the Drovers silenced the crowd of 596 by scoring the next 11 points. They finished the second quarter with a 24-6 advantage to take command with a 37-26 halftime lead.