Lead slips away in Oklahoma City
■ The Stars scored the winning basket with 0.8 seconds left.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Armed with a 17-point lead late in the first half, the No. 21 John Brown University men’s basketball team committed 10 of its 13 turnovers in the second half and Mark Howell’s running layup in transition with 0.8 seconds on the clock allowed Oklahoma City to snatch an 82-81 win over the Golden Eagles on Saturday afternoon inside Abe Lemons Arena.
The John Brown lead was five with 1:41 left in the contest after junior Desmond Kennedy fed sophomore Densier Carnes under the bucket for a layup. JBU wouldn’t score another field goal as City’s Elijah Christman’s triple made it a two-point contest.
After an unforced error turned the ball back over to the Stars, the Golden Eagles (16-7, 10-5 Sooner Athletic Conference) played out a full shot clock with stout defense and junior Brenton Toussaint absorbed a Trae Bryant offensive foul to give JBU the ball and the lead with 26 seconds left.
JBU was hit with another unforced error as the Golden Eagles were whistled for a throw-in violation on attempting to creatively inbound the ball. Another foul put OCU’s Chris Williams on the line, who hit both to tie the score.
With the game tied, sophomore Rokas Grabliauskas was fouled with six seconds left after holding the ball to run down the clock. At the line, Grabliauskas split two free throws, missing the front end and without calling its final timeout, Oklahoma City inbounded the ball and quickly attacked.
Howell ran the last half of the court past a pair of JBU defenders who didn’t want to foul, and stuck a layup with 0.8 seconds
left to give the hosts its first lead since the 11:52 remaining in the first half.
Mired in another foul fest, the teams combined for more than 50 fouls and 50 free throw attempts. John Brown converted 22 of 25 from the line while Oklahoma City knocked down 21 of its 28 attempts.
Senior Jake Caudle scored a game- and season-best 27 points, 12 of which came from the line, and added six rebounds and a pair of assists. Four of Grabliauskas’ buckets were from behind the line as he finished with 17 points.
Senior Josh Bowling had nine points before fouling out of the contest.
Oklahoma City featured five players in double-digit scoring, led by Bryant’s 20 points. Williams and Christman each contributed 16 apiece while Howell and Eric McCollum posted 11 and 10, respectively. Anthony Davis didn’t score a field goal, but grabbed 10 rebounds as the hosts out-boarded John Brown, 31-26.
Oklahoma City won the contest on the offensive boards, converting 10 rebounds into 14 secondchance points. JBU secured five second chances, but failed to make them count.
John Brown returned to action on Tuesday in Muskogee, Okla., against Bacone. Results were not available at presstime.
The Golden Eagles will host No. 10 Wayland Baptist at 8 p.m. Thursday at Bill George Arena.