John Brown men can’t keep up with Pioneers
PLAINVIEW, Texas — Junior Josh Bowling scored a game-high 23 points, but the John Brown men’s basketball team shot just 35 percent from the field, suffering a 76-61 setback in its regular season finale at Wayland Baptist inside the Hutcherson Center on Saturday afternoon.
Bowling, who led the squad in scoring for the fourth-straight outing, scored 18 of his 23 in the first half, but a 25-22 lead evaporated before intermission and the Pioneers (21-8, 13-7 Sooner Athletic) led the entirety of the second half en route to their thirdstraight victory.
Junior Marquis Waller chipped in 12 points, but JBU leading scorer, junior Jake Caudle, was limited to seven points on 2 of 12 shooting.
The Pioneers retaliated with five double-digit scorers. Ruben Lopez hit 11 of 12 from the line to score 19 points while Trevonta Robertson, Samuel Kalwanyi, Tyrone Davis and Josh Throns each contributed 11 points in the victory.
While the Golden Eagles (16-12, 10-10) only committed two more turnovers than the hosts, Wayland Baptist punished JBU to the
tune of 17-3 in points off turnovers.
Fifty-four fouls peppered the contest that saw four lead changes. WBU took the lead for good after it erased a 25-22 Golden Eagle lead and responded with a 9-0 run to take a 31-25 lead. Although John Brown would whittle the deficit down to one possession a few times, the visitors couldn’t regain the lead.
JBU shot 33.3 percent in the second half (10 of 30), allowing Wayland Baptist to build a lead as high as 18, 75-58.
The Golden Eagles wound up snagging the eighth and final seed for the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament, which began on Tuesday evening. JBU was scheduled to travel to defending national champion and No. 1 seed Texas Wesleyan. Results were not available at presstime.
The winner of Tuesday’s game advances to the semifinals on Friday evening at Bill George Arena on the JBU campus.