Texas Wesleyan edges out John Brown men

■ Rams held on for a 79-76 win at Bill George Arena on Saturday.

John Brown’s men took the defending national champions down to the wire Saturday afternoon, but in the end the Golden Eagles were not able to finish off Texas Wesleyan.

Josh Bowling’s 3-point attempt to tie in the final seconds was off target and the Rams held on for a 79-76 victory inside Bill George Arena.

With the victory, No. 20 Texas Wesleyan (20-8, 13-5) moved back into a tie with idle Oklahoma City for first place in the Sooner Athletic Conference, while JBU (15-12, 9-9) fell into a tie for seventh place with Southwestern Christian, who JBU holds the tiebreaker with on a season sweep.

“We’ve been fighting our own demons for the last couple of weeks,” said Texas Wesleyan

coach Brennen Shingleton. “We hadn’t shot the ball as well as we’d like, and we’re trying to find an identity defensively and trying to get healthy and a bunch of stuff. John Brown played its tail off. We knew it was going to be hard to guard.

“We knew it was going to be emotional for them with the last home game of the year. Every time you come here you’ve got to be ready to play, and with a bunch of new guys you’ve got to convince them of that every time.”

LSU transfer Branden Jenkins led the Rams with 22 points, including two free throws with 21.6 seconds left to give the Rams a 77-76 lead after Bowling had given the Golden Eagles the lead with a 3-pointer.

The Rams forced a turnover of Darrell Jones on JBU’s next offensive possession, and Ryan Harris was fouled. Harris hit two free throws with 8.6 seconds left for a 79-76 lead.

Bowling got a good look at a game-tying shot, but it just didn’t fall.

Juwan Jones scored 21 points off the bench for the Rams, while Harris had 19. The Rams shot 17 of 27 (63 percent) from the field in the second half.

Bowling had a careerhigh 35 points for JBU (1512, 9-9), which answered Wesleyan point for point in the second half. Jake Caudle added 18.

“We did a great job fighting to get back,” said JBU head coach Jason Beschta. “Gosh, we executed our stuff down the stretch. We got some really good looks on things. We even got a good look there at the end. I’m proud of the way we did that.”

JBU now hits the road on Thursday to Oklahoma Panhandle State and on to Wayland Baptist on Saturday — two teams that it beat at Bill George Arena earlier in the year.