JBU men end losing streak at OPSU
GOODWELL, Okla. — After a four-point lead evaporated with less than a minute to play, the John Brown University men’s basketball team outscored Oklahoma Panhandle State 15-10 in overtime to earn a 78-73 road win inside Anchor D Arena on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 7).
Senior D.J. Ellis scored 15 points and dished out five assists while senior Tyren Collins added 14 points on a perfect shooting effort — 5 of 5 from the floor and 4 for 4 at the free-throw line.
Junior Benjamin Agwu Eme’s layup with 56 seconds left in the contest handed John Brown a 63-59 lead, but the Sooner Athletic Conference’s leading scorer — Rayquan Elliot — converted a pair at the line and hit a gametying layup all in the final minute to force overtime.
Although the Aggies (213, 1-8 Sooner Athletic) scored the first points of overtime, sophomore Latrell Maitland’s trip to the line yielded two points, and later Ellis’ triple gave John Brown (4-11, 2-7) the lead for good as Panhandle
State shot just 4 of 10 from the floor in the extra period.
Ellis scored seven of his 15 in overtime, while Collins chipped in with four.
“I am so proud of the way we fought tonight after a little bit of a slow start,” said JBU coach Jason Beschta. “We played and got significant contributions from so many guys tonight to gut this one out. I thought our posts did a phenomenal job defending the paint in the second half and overtime and, as a team, we rebounded very well.
“We showed a high level of toughness, coming up with big plays on both ends when we needed them most. We have been in so many close games this year that we just needed to see ourselves finish one out like we did tonight. This team has a lot of fight left in them and I’m excited about the weeks ahead.”
In breaking its fivegame losing skid, John Brown shot 48 percent (27 of 56) from the floor and outrebounded OPSU by a 41-32 margin, turning 15 offensive rebounds into 14 second-chance points.
Elliot entered the game averaging nearly 35 points a game and was held to 26 points on 9 of 26 shooting.
JBU needed the bench to show out, and it did, as the visitors enjoyed a season-high eight points from Awgu Eme, and seven each from freshman Josh Stewart and Maitland. The John Brown reserves outscored the OPSU bench by a 31-17 margin.
The Golden Eagles will now head to Oklahoma to face off with MidAmerica Christian (Okla.) on Thursday inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
The 7:45 p.m. scheduled tip will be carried live on the SAC Sports Network.
Wayland Baptist 78, John Brown 54
PLAINVIEW, Texas — Hitting nine of its first 14 shots to open the contest,
No. 22 Wayland Baptist opened the evening with a 24-5 advantage, sending the John Brown University men’s basketball team to a 78-54 setback on Thursday night (Jan. 5) inside the Hutcherson Center.
The Golden Eagles had a hard time getting shots to fall through the first 6:40 of the matchup, hitting just 2 of 9 from the floor in the early goings. Senior James Beckom hit a layup to end the run, and junior Noah Taylor and senior DJ Ellis hit triples to reinvigorate the JBU offense, which played the Pioneers (10-4, 5-3) to a 54-49 contest the rest of the way.
“Wayland had a great start to the game tonight, and we found ourselves in a hole early that we were just never able to overcome,” said head coach Jason Beschta. “They guarded us really well and we just didn’t have an answer tonight for the big man inside.
“I thought we really picked things up in the second half and showed a lot more fight, which was important for us to see – but we need to have that for a full 40 minutes. While there were many things to be encouraged by, we just did not score the ball well tonight.”
Ellis scored a teamleading 19 points on 7 of 14 shooting from the floor, four of which came from behind the arc. Beckom came off the bench to provide the only other double-digit scoring effort, netting 11 on an efficient 3 of 5 mark from the floor and a 5 of 6 evening from the free throw line. The Golden
Eagles improved to nearly 50 percent from the field in the second half (11of-23) but were unable to overcome a 30 percent mark (8-of-27) in the first stanza.
Wayland’s D’Michael Bellfield scored a gamehigh 31 points on an impressive 13 of 18 night from the floor and added eight boards and five steals. Josh Servantez hit four triples and scored 16 points and Parrish Hewitt produced 12 points and five rebounds in the win.