Wayland Baptist rolls by JBU men
The Pioneers handed the Golden Eagles their second straight loss.
PLAINVIEW, Texas — Russell Harrison poured in a game-high 25 points for Wayland Baptist (Texas) and the Pioneers defeated the John Brown University men’s basketball team on Saturday (Jan. 7) afternoon by a 91-66 final inside the Hutcherson Center.
“It’s always disappointing when you can’t sustain an effort that deserves a victory for the entire course of the game,” said JBU head coach Jason Beschta. “It’s even worse when you have a long road trip home to dwell on it. We have got to learn how to weather
the storms within a game. There will be times where we struggle to score or times the other team seems to score at will, and the trick to being a great team is learning how to shorten those runs for the other team as well as the bad ones for your own.”
The Golden Eagles (9-6, 1-3 SAC) were hampered by 19 turnovers and a 38.7 percent shooting mark from the floor as only two players finished in double figures.
The setback was JBU’s second in a row, marking its first back-to-back losses since Nov. 8.
Sophomore Jake Caudle scored a team-best 18 points on five triples while senior Zach English added 10 points. Freshman Brenton Toussaint contributed a strong outing, providing eight points, eight rebounds and a block.
Despite the Pioneers’ early six-point advantage, back-to-back buckets from Toussaint and senior Matthew Ledford, a triple, JBU held a 21-20 lead midway through the first half.
However, over the next six minutes, Baptist would rip off a 18-7 run to take a 10-point advantage, 3828, which widened to 13 when WBU’s Ruben Lopez hit a triple just before time expired.
The Golden Eagles were limited to just three field goals over the final 7:50 of play in the initial period.
Pouring in seven triples and shooting 46.2 percent in the second half, the Pioneers (11-5, 3-1 SAC) out-scored the visitors 50-38.
J.J. Culver and Joshua Throns each poured in 16 for Baptist off the bench. Maurice Redmond added 11 points in 30 minutes of play.
The Golden Eagles held a slight edge on the glass, 38-37, but Wayland secured a 13-4 advantage in points off turnovers and enjoyed 47 points off the bench, compared to 33 from the John Brown reserves.
JBU returns to action on Thursday when the Golden Eagles face Southwestern Assembles of God (Texas) in Waxahachie, continuing its season-long four-game road swing.
Game time is scheduled for 8 p.m.
“There are a lot of things that we can take away from our last game to learn and improve upon and apply to our next game,” Beschta said. “But we have to have not just a great week of practice but also transfer what we do to the games. This team is capable of great things. We need to see ourselves beat a good team to help us believe that. This coming week will provide a great opportunity to do just that.”