John Brown falls short against Wayland Baptist

SILOAM SPRINGS — Jeff Soderquist pointed to the 21 turnovers John Brown’s women committed and said that was what kept his team from a possible upset Thursday night.

The last turnover hurt the Golden Eagles the most. It wiped out any chance of a game-tying shot as No. 7 Wayland Baptist escaped with a 71-68 victory during Sooner Athletic Conference action in Bill George Arena.

John Brown (14-10, 10-7 SAC) used its last timeout to get the ball in the frontcourt and worked the ball around. Baily Cameron, who led the Golden Eagles with 25 points, drove into the lane and tried to kick the ball out for a 3-pointer, but Deborah VanDijk picked off the pass and held the ball as time expired.

“We had some good looks,” Soderquist said. “We got the ball to Baily on that one possession, and we ran the play we wanted. If Preslea (Lawson) would have taken that shot, I think we had an open 3. We were just a little hesitant.

“The big thing was the 21 turnovers. We just gave them too many extra opportunities. You can’t give a good team like Wayland Baptist those extra chances.”

Wayland Baptist (20-4, 142) entered the fourth quarter with a 59-51 lead and stretched it out to 66-53 after a Cailyn Breckel bucket with 7 minutes, 25 seconds remaining. The Flying Queens, ranked seventh nationally among NAIA teams, had a 70-58 lead on Payton Brown’s bucket at the 5:19 mark, but it turned out to be their final bucket.

John Brown then scored the next 10 points and cut Wayland Baptist’s lead to 70-68 on Lawson’s 3-pointer with 1:51 remaining. Cameron, however, missed a game-tying shot with under a minute remaining, and the Golden Eagles suffered a turnover before Morgan Bennett hit a free throw to close out the scoring for Wayland Baptist.

“They started hitting some shots, so we went to that zone,” Soderquist said. “I think it frustrated them some and they started standing around. It got us going and allowed us to fight back.”

Lawson was the only other John Brown player in double figures with 18 points, while Cameron completed a double-double with 10 rebounds. Kambrey Blakey and Brown each had 12 for Wayland Baptist, followed by Kelea Pool with 11 and Morgan Bennett with 10.

Wayland Baptist ....... 22 18 19 12 — 71 John Brown ............. 16 21 14 17 — 68 Wayland Baptist (20-4, 14-2): Blakey 12, Brown 12, Pool 11, Bennett 10, Edgemon 9, VanDijk 8, Breckel 5, Merket 4.

John Brown (14-10, 10-7): Cameron 25, Lawson 18, Teague 6, Altman 4, Martin 4, Williams 3, Chandra 3, Nelson 2, Fergen 2, Matamala 1.

Men

JOHN BROWN 78, WAYLAND BAPTIST 75

John Brown had a 14-point lead with 4 minutes remaining, then held off a furious Wayland Baptist rally to earn the win and close the gap in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings.

The Golden Eagles (18-7, 12-5), ranked No. 21 among NAIA teams, scored the last six points of the first half and took a 32-25 lead on Luke Harper’s 3-pointer at the buzzer. John Brown led by as much as 53-37 when Jake Caudle of Bentonville hit two free throws with 11:45 remaining and had a 67-53 lead after Josh Bowling’s two free throws at the 4:16 mark.

Wayland Baptist (18-6, 13-3), the 10th-ranked team nationally, then went on a 13-4 run and pulled within 69-64 on Trevonta Robinson with 1:14 remaining, and made it a 78-75 game after Josh Throns hit three free throws with 5.3 seconds left. The Pioneers then picked off an inbounds pass with a chance to tie, but a walking violation ended that threat with 0.2 seconds remaining.

Bowling led four John Brown players in double figures with 20, followed by Harper with 17, Caudle with 13 and Desmond Kennedy with 10. Robertson had 18 for Wayland Baptist, while J.J. Culver added 14 and Spencer Lindsey with 12. Wayland Baptist .............. 25 50 — 75 John Brown .................... 32 46 — 78 Wayland Baptist (18-6, 13-3): Robertson 18, Culver 14, Lindsey 12, Obinwa 8, Throns 7, Fillmore 5, Nobles 4, Mazionis 4, Betjol 2, Doerue 1.

John Brown (18-7, 12-5): Bowling 20, Harper 17, Caudle 13, Kennedy 10, Grabliauskas 9, Toussaint 4, Bailey 4, Carnes 1.