John Brown men fall on road at Texas Wesleyan

■ The Golden Eagles will host an opening round game of the SAC Tournament at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

FORT WORTH, Texas — In the second half, the John Brown men’s basketball team returned to form, hitting 47 percent of its shots from the floor and enjoyed a 40-34 shooting advantage, but a 16-point first-half doomed the visitors as the No. 9 Golden Eagles suffered a 69-56 loss at No. 24 Texas Wesleyan on Thursday night inside the Sid Richardson Center.

In the Top 25 battle, the Golden Eagles (25-4, 16-3 Sooner Athletic) had a first half that yielded just 16 points and 15 turnovers as JBU’s winning streak was halted at six games. Shooting just 6 of 21 from the floor, the visitors faced a 35-16 deficit at halftime.

Sophomore Luke Harper came alive in the second half, hitting 6 of 7 from the field to score 15 points and junior Kiree Hutchings added three triples to contribute 13 points in the second half.

JBU started the second half on a 14-5 run to cut the Rams’ lead to just six, 36-30, with just under 14 minutes to play, but Texas Wesleyan retaliated with an 11-2 run to rebuild a 47-32 lead that John Brown couldn’t bring back to within single digits for the remainder of the contest.

“It’s tough to recover from a start like tonight against a team as tough as Texas Wesleyan,” head coach Jason Beschta said. “We have to do a better job at starting games, and I know we have it in us to do just that. We just need to take better care of the ball and hit shots with confidence.

“I’m proud of the way we responded in the first 10 minutes of the second half to cut their lead down to two possessions. We’re not going to let one game negatively influence us, but this can serve as a wake-up call so that we can learn what we need to and come back stronger and ready for Saturday.”

The Golden Eagle loss cemented Mid-America Christian’s regular-season championship and the Sooner Athletic’s first automatic bid to the NAIA National Championships next month. The second auto-bid is up for grabs for the tournament champion next week.

John Brown did clean up its game in the second half, connecting on 14 of 30 shots from the floor and only committing seven turnovers. The Golden Eagles held Wesleyan to just 9 of 22 from the floor and eight turnovers, but the Rams marched to the line and hit 14 of 23 attempts from the stripe in the final 20 minutes of play.

Junior Densier Carnes added seven points and nine boards before fouling out, leading the strong Golden Eagle rebounding effort that saw the visitors outrebound Wesleyan by a 37-25 margin.

Sam Lorenzen led the Rams’ scoring effort with 13 points on three triples, while Davon Berry stepped up with 11 points. Joe Cook-Green hit all six free throws attempted to chip in with 10 in the win for Wesleyan.

John Brown was scheduled to close out the regular season on Saturday in Texas at Southwestern Assemblies of God. Results were not available at presstime.

JBU, which is 16-0 at Bill George Arena this season, will return home at 7 p.m. on Tuesday for one more home game in the opening round of the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament.

John Brown is the No. 2 seed, but as of presstime, the Golden Eagles’ opponent had yet to be determined.