SHAWNEE, Okla. -- Both Gilbert Gyamfi and Kofi Josephs each poured in over 20 points apiece, but No. 22 St. Gregory's (Okla.) rode the Sooner Athletic Conference leading scorer to an 83-74 victory tonight at the W.P. Wood Field House, sending John Brown to its fifth-consecutive loss.
Gyamfi poured in a team-high 23 points on a 9-of-13 shooting clip from the field while Josephs knocked down 21 of his own, finishing 7-of-18 from the floor. It was the eighth and ninth time, respectively, for the leading JBU scorers to finish over 20 points this season. Quinton Smith secured his fourth double-digit outing of the season with 11 points to accompany his team-leading eight rebounds. Max Hopfgartner also collected eight caroms in the loss.
John Brown started out well, scoring on its first two attempts to take a quick 5-0 lead. The lead wouldn't hold long, however, when SGU responded with a 16-0 run as JBU went over six minutes without scoring a bucket. Finally, Gyamfi's field goal at the 12:21 mark ended the streak and returned the margin back to nine, 16-7.
Gyamfi's bucket proved to be the spark the Golden Eagles needed. He scored another bucket before consecutive triples from Gyamfi and Kurtis Phillips pulled the visitors back to within four, 19-15. After a missed Zach English trey attempt Phillips secured an offensive board that led to a long-range bucket from Hopfgartner, bringing the contest to a 19-18 score and forcing the hosts to call a timeout. The first half ended on another impressive Cavalier run, however, as St. Gregory's closed the frame on a 25-7 spurt to take a 44-25 lead into the intermission.
The second half featured a much better shooting team in John Brown as the Golden Eagles slowly chipped away at the difficult 21-point disadvantage. English, Phillips and Smith each hit three-pointers over the first 6:15 of the second half, narrowing the deficit to 10, 55-45. At the 12:01 mark and facing an 11-point margin, baskets from Josephs and Hopfgartner made way for a Smith triple, ending a quick 7-0 run and forcing a 59-55 SGU lead.
St. Gregory's responded by holding the visitors to only four field goals for the rest of the half and a quick 13-4 run extended the lead to 13, 72-59. JBU was unable to get any closer as the Cavaliers used an 8-of-10 mark from the line down the stretch to secure the 83-74 victory.
Although the Golden Eagles out-rebounded St. Gregory's, 35-31, the hosts turned 17 John Brown errors into 22 points and 10 offensive rebounds were converted into 16 second-chance scores. After a difficult first-half shooting effort, JBU rebounded with a 53.6 percent mark in the second half to finish 25-of-55 for the game (45.5 percent). SGU was more consistent and finished 28-of-59 from the field (47.5 percent).
The Cavaliers (16-4, 7-4 SAC) were led by the SAC's leading scorer, Marty Wilkerson's 25 points. Josiah Campbell added his seventh double-double of the season, finishing with 14 points and 13 rebounds. T.J. Thornton totaled 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting and added four of SGU's 10 steals on the night as four of the five Cavalier starters finished in double digits.
The road won't get any easier for the Golden Eagles as they travel to Plainview, Texas, on Saturday (Feb. 1) to face red-hot Wayland Baptist at 3:00 p.m. The Pioneers are fresh off a victory over then-No. 1 Southwestern A.G. (Texas) on Jan. 23 before downing Northwood (Texas) on Jan. 25.
