Turnovers take their toll on JBU

OKLAHOMA CITY — Battling to a manageable 32-29 score at halftime, the John Brown University men’s basketball team saw Ridell Camidge go off for 19 of his game-high 25 points in the second half as Oklahoma City defeated the Golden Eagles 8066 on Saturday afternoon inside Abe Lemons Arena.

The Golden Eagles (11-9, 6-6 Sooner Athletic) actually held a pair of leads early in the second half, courtesy of 3-pointers from junior Jake Caudle and freshman Rokas Grabliauskas, but after Caudle’s second triple of the early half cut the City lead to two, 42-40, the JBU offense stalled.

Over the next 8:53 of the second half, the Stars (15-5, 8-4) rallied on a 22-9 run as John Brown hit 5-of-9 from the floor, but committed eight turnovers during the pivotal stretch that allowed City to take a commanding 64-49 lead with 6:54 remaining.

“I thought we played a really solid first half tonight, executing our offense and playing tough defense,” head coach Jason

Beschta said. “We were a different team in second half. Their defensive pressure picked up, and we made careless turnovers that led to easy buckets. We can’t do that against any team in this league, because when that happens, staying in games is that much more difficult.

“We didn’t defend well in the second half, and part of that was due to how poor we were on offense. We just can’t get away with that in this conference. We need to be more consistent in our effort and execution.”

Camidge could not be stopped as the Oklahoma City leading scorer finished 7 of 8 from the field in the second half, including a 5 of 6 mark from behind the arc over the final 20 minutes. Camidge was assisted by 18 points and 12 rebounds by Samuel Williams and a 12-point effort from Terrence Bonhomme, despite a difficult shooting afternoon.

JBU hit only 9-of-24 from behind the arc and shot 45.1 percent overall from the floor (23 of 51). City replied with a 58 percent effort (29 of 50), including a 66.7 percent

mark in the second half. The Golden Eagles were outrebounded 33-21 — a season-low rebounding effort.

Caudle finished with a team-best 21 points on 7 of 11 shooting. Nathan

Corder contributed a pair of triples while junior Marquis Waller added eight points.

John Brown returns to action at 8 p.m. Thursday at home against Southwestern Christian (Okla.).