Golden Eagles stay sharp, roll past Ecclesia
■ The JBU women’s team was defeated in an exhibition at UAFS.
The John Brown men’s basketball team got two important things out of Saturday’s nonconference 94-49 win against Ecclesia at Bill George Arena.
The first was the game gave the Golden Eagles another chance to compete in what could have been an off Saturday. JBU was previously scheduled to play at St. Gregory’s on Saturday, but that game was canceled when St. Gregory’s announced it was closing its school.
“I think the biggest thing is it gave us another chance to compete,” said JBU coach Jason Beschta. “With a group of young players, we don’t need another day of practice, we need another day to compete. For some guys who don’t play as much or haven’t been playing that well, it was better than just having another practice.”
The second — and maybe the most important for JBU — was it got Josh Bowling going again.
Bowling — a 6-foot-6 junior — came off the bench and hit all eight of his field goal attempts, including four 3-pointers, and led JBU with 20 points.
“We needed to see Josh Bowling play well,” Beschta said.
Bowling came into the game as JBU’s second leading scorer at 11.4 points per night behind team leader Jake Caudle at 19.5. But Bowling’s offensive production has slipped as of late. Through his first 13 games, he was averaging 13.1 points and he’s dipped to just 8.6 over his last eight games.
“Hopefully that jump-starts him and gives him confidence as we head into the rest of conference play.”
The Golden Eagles (13-9) scored the game’s first 16 points and built up a 20-point halftime lead against the Royals (1-14), who JBU defeated 97-65 in the Toilet Paper Game on Nov. 4 to open the season.
JBU substituted liberally in the second half but still increased its lead over the last 20 minutes.
Twelve of the 13 JBU players that played scored points. Caudle scored all 11 of his points in the first half and led with seven rebounds. Denzier Carnes also had seven rebounds and added nine points for JBU.
The Golden Eagles hit 32 of 61 shots from the field, including 13 of 31 from behind the 3-point line.
Dequcelan Bagsby led Ecclesia with 15 points.
John Brown returns to action on Thursday at Mid-America Christian before returning home to face Science and Arts on Saturday. MACU defeated John Brown 88-74 on Jan. 20, while the Drovers defeated the Golden Eagles 64-63 in Chickasha, Okla., on Jan. 18.
“That MACU game, obviously every one’s important, but it’s also important in that you don’t want to get swept by anybody,” Beschta said. “Science and Arts, I think that’s a team we matched up well against. They had a hard time guarding our posts. We had chances. I think we’re a good matchup for them.”
UA-Fort Smith 74, JBU 31
FORT SMITH — The JBU women were defeated by ArkansasFort Smith on Saturday at the Stubblefield Center in a regularseason game for the Lions and an exhibition for the Golden Eagles.
UAFS led 12-8 after the first quarter and 26-17 at halftime. The Lions (15-8) went to a full court press defense in the second half and never let up and outscored JBU 48-14 in the second half, including 27-3 in the fourth quarter.
Lundon Williams led UAFS with 17 points, while Tamera Gulley had 16 and Ellie Lehne had 12. Jordan Martin led JBU (14-8) with 11 points, while Rosa Orpo had nine. Three of JBU’s regular players — Baily Cameron, Kimmy Deines and Jana Schammel — did not play in the game.