Toussaint’s second-half surge lifts Golden Eagles to win
John Brown men’s basketball coach Jason Beschta was stunned when he heard Brenton Toussaint didn’t score a single point during the first half of Thursday’s game against Southwestern Christian.
The sophomore forward made up for that by scoring 17 points over the last 20 minutes as the Golden Eagles went on to post a crucial 77-63 victory during Sooner Athletic Conference action inside Bill George Arena.
Toussaint missed his only two shot attempts in the first half, but finished with an 8-of-11 performance from the floor.
“Did he have zero at half? Oh my,” Beschta said. “I knew he had his best game since he’s been here. That second half, I mean, he played so strong. He was finishing everything and using great footwork. That was what was impressing me because he was moving around and losing guys.
“That set such a tone because we got those looks with our various posts — and even our guards — and we were missing layups. They were contested, but we have to finish those and Brent took that to heart.”
Junior guard Jake Caudle of Bentonville, who finished with a game-high 29 points, scored six straight points and capped a 9-2 run that helped John Brown (12-9, 7-6) turn a 34-29 halftime cushion into a 43-31 lead with 14 minutes, 57 seconds remaining. The Golden Eagles’ biggest lead came after Toussaint scored six straight points and made it a 5137 game with 11:44 left.
Southwestern Christian (12-10, 6-7), which was without secondleader scorer Fredd Richardson as a result of an incident last week, did make things interesting for a while as the Eagles went on a 12-2 run and cut the lead to 53-49 after Casey Cole’s bucket with 8:43 on the clock. John Brown, however, scored six straight points — four by Toussaint — and eventually put its lead in double digits for good when Caudle’s dunk made it
72-62 with 1:04 remaining.
Marquis Waller added 12 points for John Brown, while Caudle and Toussaint just missed out on doubledoubles with nine rebounds apiece. Cole did have a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds, but he was the only Southwestern Christian to finish in double-digit scoring.
The win gives the Golden Eagles the series sweep and the tiebreaker over the visiting Eagles, both of whom were tied for sixth in the league standings entering the game. John Brown remains tied for sixth with Mid-America Christian with seven conference games remaining, and the two teams meet Thursday in Oklahoma City.
“It’s almost like having a two-game lead on them because of the sweep,” Beschta said. “This league is like that all the way through. Depending on what happens, we could jump one position or even three positions.
“You just don’t know about things at this point. That’s what is exciting about the second round of conference play. Everybody keeps waiting for it to open up, but it’s still this big jumble and anybody could get hot at this point.”
JBU returned to action Saturday at home against Ecclesia in a nonconfernece game that was a late addition to the schedule after St. Gregory’s announced it was closing its school at the end of the fall semester. Results were not available at presstime.
John Brown 77, Southwestern Christian 63
SW Christian 29 34 — 63
John Brown 34 43 — 77
SW Christian (12-10, 6-7): Cole 22, Diaz 9, Scott 8, Lobo 7, Williams 6, Beasley 4, Gordon 3, Sikes 2, Sileikis 2.
John Brown (12-9, 7-6): Caudle 29, Toussaint 17, Waller 12, Carnes 6, Grabliauskas 5, Rucker 4, Corder 2, Habazin 2.