Golden Eagles balanced in win
The JBU men defeated St. Gregory’s 77-64 at home Saturday.
The John Brown men’s basketball team responded in crunch time Saturday, and the Golden Eagles got contributions from all over the court.
All 11 JBU players who entered the game cracked the scoring column, and five players provided much-needed points down the stretch as the Golden Eagles pulled away from St. Gregory’s 77-64 in a Sooner Athletic Conference game at Bill George Arena.
“Different guys would answer with a big play for us when we needed it,” said JBU head coach Jason Beschta.
JBU led by 19 points in the second half, but St. Gregory’s closed within 51-44 heading into the final stretch.
Brandon Joseph connected on a 3-pointer from the left wing to get the lead back up to double-digits, and Josh Bowling splashed in a trey from the corner on JBU’s next possession for a 57-46 lead.
Miguel Martinez converted a three-point play with 7:34 left, and Ricky Roberts followed with a jump shot as JBU held a 12-point lead.
Zach English hit two free throws and a 3-pointer for a 6754 lead.
“Whether it’s Brandon hitting a shot, Zach hitting a shot, Miguel with an offensive rebound and finish, Josh Bowling in the corner with a big shot, Ricky with a timely shot and a couple of good passes in that zone — we had a lot of guys just making plays for us tonight,”
The Golden Eagles (11-8, 3-5) pulled ahead by 17 in the final minutes, but St. Gregory’s guard James Bickers connected on a pair of late 3-pointers to trim the final deficit.
The game was JBU’s first home game since Jan. 5 after playing their last four on the road and going 1-3 in that stretch.
“It was great to be back home and finally have some people cheering for us,” said Joseph, who finished with a game-high and season-best 23 points and five assists to just two turnovers. “I just feel like confident right now. Coach has allowed
me to get my confidence back to where it was at beginning of the year. I just want to thank my teammates, though. They let me be confident. They never tell me, ‘that’s a bad shot.’ They just keep me fully confident. I couldn’t do it without them.”
English added 17 for the Golden Eagles and Samuel Egedi had 10 rebounds. JBU trailed twice after the first three possessions of the game but led the rest of the way.
JBU hit 25 of 57 shots from the field and 12 of 28 from behind the 3-point line.
Michael Maras led five Cavaliers (7-8, 3-5) players in double figures with 13 points. Bickers finished with 12, while Jordan Rutherford and Pablo Bianchi each had 11, and Kilder Gonzalez 10.
“We came out flat. I told the guys all year that if we play hard we’ve got a chance,” said St. Gregory’s coach Dylan Lemley. “We played hard at times. Most of the time though, for the most part, we couldn’t put it together every possession. Hat’s off to John Brown. They’re wellcoached. They played extremely well. They’re very disciplined. They’re a great ball club. They earned it for sure.”
It was also a big win for JBU, which is now tied with St. Gregory’s for fourth in the conference standings heading into this week.
JBU also completed the season sweep of the Cavaliers after an 89-83 win in Shawnee, Okla., on Dec. 3
The Sooner Athletic Conference has shown balance at this point with Texas Wesleyan and Southwestern Assemblies of God tied for first place with a 6-2 record, Wayland Baptist in second at 5-3 and four teams — Oklahoma City, Mid-America Christian, Southwestern Christian and Science and Arts all tied for third at 4-4.
“It can go either direction real quick for all kinds of teams in the league right now,” Beschta said. “To be good and be able to be a team that’s a top-half-of-the-league kind of team, you’re going to have to get some sweeps when you’ve got the opportunity, and we had that opportunity tonight, and that’s big.”
The Golden Eagles return to action at 8 p.m. Thursday against Bacone (3-12, 1-7), which is in last place in the conference standings. On Saturday, the Golden Eagles will travel to defending NAIA Division I champion Mid-America Christian (13-7, 4-4).
“You’ve got to find a way to take care of business at home and squeak some out on the road,” Beschta said. “We’ve got another one at home coming up. We really need to take care of that one, and we really need to squeak something out on the road. I think going to MACU next Saturday, we haven’t played real well there the last couple of years, and they’re super talented. They’ve lost some games and they’re still a Top 25-caliber team, no doubt.”
It can go either direction real quick for all kinds of teams in the league right now. To be good and be able to be a team that’s a tophalf-of-the-league kind of team, you’re going to have to get some sweeps when you’ve got the opportunity, and we had that opportunity tonight, and that’s big. Jason Beschta JBU men’s basketball coach