Men get caught in hail of Pioneer 3-pointers
JBU trailed by as many as 29 points Saturday against MidAmerica Nazarene.
For one half of basketball, it seemed like everything MidAmerica Nazarene threw up from behind the 3-point line was bound to go in.
The No. 19 Pioneers hit 10 of 13 (76.9 percent) of their first-half 3-pointers Saturday to build a large lead over John Brown, and they had just enough left in the tank in the second half to hold on for a 91-82 victory inside Bill George Arena on the second day of the John Brown Classic.
MidAmerica Nazarene shot a red-hot 19 of 30 from the field and was even better from farther out than it was from inside the arc.
The Pioneers led by as many as 29 points before going into halftime with a 55-31 lead.
“Gosh, it felt like (the lead) was going to balloon to about 60 the way things were going,” said John Brown head coach Jason Beschta. “It was just a tale of us not being able to do anything right it felt like, then one possession would build upon the next, and it was just a downward spiral.”
Beschta said the Golden Eagles made some adjustments at halftime and emphasized not trying to do too much too soon to get back into the game.
“We talked to our guys about, there’s no 20-point play here,” Beschta said. “We’re not just going to turn around and make some monster play and now it’s a game. We’ve got to chip away at it and just say, ‘Let’s win this
possession.’”
JBU came out to start the second half on a 9-0 run, after a hustle putback from Brenton Toussaint, a 3-pointer and jump shot from Jaylon Rucker and a score from Jake Caudle, who finished with a monster game of 36 points.
That surge cut MidAmerica Nazarene’s lead to 5540, and not long after the Golden Eagles had been fouled so much that they were already in the bonus with a lot of time left in the second half.
The foul count was a point of contention for Pioneers coach Rocky Lamar.
“Holy cow, they’re in the bonus,” Lamar said. “We have a 24-point lead and they’re in the bonus at the 16 minute mark. That’s iffy.”
JBU kept chipping away at the Pioneers, who got their lead back up to 21 points. But the Golden Eagles weren’t done.
Down 82-61, Nathan Corder scores and Caudle followed with a pair of baskets and a three-point play from Josh Bowling. Corder hit a 3-pointer in the corner to make it 86-75, and Caudle hit another trey to bring JBU within 86-78.
Two free throws from Caudle with 1:21 left got the Golden Eagles within 86-80, but that was as close as JBU would get.
“I definitely look at it as we finished one on the road, because it was really interesting the way that lead evaporated,” Lamar said. “It didn’t just evaporate accidentally. Our guys have to learn to control their emotions just a little bit better, although I thought we did a pretty good job.”
Mitchell McMullen led four MNU players in double figures with 25 points, including hitting 5 of 7 from behind the 3-point line.
Kellan Turner scored 17 points and hit three treys, while Gabriel Jordan had 12 points and hit 3 of 3 from long range.
“It helped we shot the tar out of it the first half,” Lamar said. “We have some guys that can shoot it.”
Jonathan Green added 15 points for the Pioneers (6-0).
Beschta said the Golden Eagles’ defensive efforts in the first half contributed to the shooting.
“Ten of 13 from 3,” said JBU coach Jason Beschta. “We didn’t necessarily get hands up on those, but man they were shooting it anyways. They made some shots. They’re a team that can play like that. They’ll be one of if not the leader in the country in scoring. That’s how they play. I thought we committed on defense to being a lot better in the second half.
“I think mature teams and some of the best teams could have made that adjustment on the fly in the first half. I think that’s something we’re going to have to learn from them. We talked about that what we were able to correct at halftime. But it was really hard to do in the flow. Man, I’m proud of the way we did battle back.”
Caudle had his second 30-plus outing of the year to go with a career-high 38 points scored at Evangel (Mo.) on Nov. 11. Caudle hit 11 of 20 shots from the field and 12 of 14 from the free-throw line.
“I mean, Jake was awesome,” Beschta said. “Jake just made plays for us.”
Rucker added 13 points off the bench and Toussaint had 10 points.
“It’s been a great weekend of seeing different guys step up,” Beschta said, singling out Corder, Toussaint, Rucker, Dwayne Hart and Josh Rhodius.
The Golden Eagles returned to action on Monday at Arkansas-Fort Smith in a game that counts as an exhibition for JBU and regular season matchup for UAFS. Results were not available at presstime. The game was a late addition to the schedule after St. Gregory’s (Okla.) announced it was closing school at the end of the fall semester and canceling the rest of its athletics immediately. St. Gregory’s was originally scheduled to play UAFS on Monday and play JBU on Nov. 30 in a Sooner Athletic Conference game.
Men
MidAmerica Nazarene 91, John Brown 82 MidAmerica Nazarene 55 36 — 91 John Brown 31 51 — 82
MidAmerica Nazarene (6-0): McMullen 25, Turner 17, Green 15, Jordan 12, Scroggins 7, Ostertag 6, Welty 5, Chrisman 4.
John Brown (4-2): Caudle 36, Rucker 13, Toussaint 10, Bowling 9, Corder 5, Carnes 4, Smith 3, Hart 2.