SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. -- In the first game of a pivotal three-game stretch against ranked opponents, the Golden Eagles (10-1, 2-0 SAC) built a 29-point lead early in the second half only to have it erased by a 30-point swing, but senior Max Hopfgartners baseline jumper with 0.2 seconds fell, giving John Brown a 78-77 upset win over No. 12 Oklahoma Baptist tonight inside Bill George Arena.
In a game that seemed well in hand at the half with a 49-21 lead, the Bison came out and shot 21-of-36 in the second half (58.3 percent) and nailed 8-of-13 chances from behind the arc (61.5 percent). The Golden Eagle lead grew to as many as 29, 52-23, but 14 second-half turnovers kept JBU to just 20 field goal attempts in stanza, 16 fewer than Baptist.
The Bison (9-2, 1-1 SAC) continually chipped away at the John Brown lead through the second half. Clinging onto a 75-69 lead with 1:16 remaining in the contest, freshman Matthew Ledford split a pair at the line before junior Ronalds Elksnis grabbed an offensive rebound off missed shot on the back-end of a double-bonus and absorbed the foul. The tension grew as Elksnis wasnt able to convert either chance at the line and OBUs D.J. Hearvy poured in just his second field goal of the night, a triple, to trim the lead to four, 76-72. Two straight turnovers by the Golden Eagles resulted in a bucket from Aaron Abrams and finally a triple from Ty Allen at the right elbow of the three-point arc. Allens make was his third trey of the game as Oklahoma Baptist completed the 29-point comeback to take a 77-76 lead with 12 seconds remaining.
“Its always hard with a lead like that,†admitted head coach Jason Beschta. “I would have been more comfortable with a 40-point lead. I told Ty [Beard] at halftime that we need to make it to 80 points, because this OBU team could easily put up 60 points in the second half. They shot amazingly well in the second half, but our problem was that we had too many empty possessions down the stretch. Thats something we need to get better at.
Electing not to take a timeout, senior Samson Olayemi pushed the ball down the floor. Draped by a pair of OBU defenders, Olayemi was forced into the right corner before a desperation dish-off to Hopfgartner. With three defenders flanking him and with an odd angle to shoot, Hopfgartner let go of a mid-range baseline jumper with 0.2 seconds left that fell, returning the lead back to John Brown. A futile inbounds by the Bison didnt have enough time for a final shot as the Golden Eagles improved to 8-1 at home on the season.
“We played by far our best first half of basketball this season,†Beschta added, who improved his record at JBU over ranked opponents to 2-1, “and it was against arguably the best offensive team in our conference. They have a lot of weapons. We had some outstanding offensive performances between Samsons assists and DJs hot shooting and, of course, Griffins contributions as well.â€
For the fourth time this season, junior DJ Feitl eclipsed the 20-point mark by pouring in a game-high 25 points on a 10-of-12 effort from the floor. The teams leading scorer also added three triples, six rebounds and four assists. Olayemi set a career mark with 11 assists on the afternoon, none bigger than his dish to Hopfgartner for the game-winning shot. Junior Griffin Brady finished 5-of-6 from long range to contribute 18 points while Hopfgartner added 13 points and eight rebounds in the win.
John Brown set multiple season shooting marks by converting 30-of-56 from the field (53.6 percent) and 12-of-22 from three-point range (54.5 percent). In the first half, JBU notched a 55.6 percent effort overall and picked up another season high in shooting percentage in a single half.
The Bison used 16 John Brown turnovers to net 17 points, but the Golden Eagles controlled the paint, out-scoring the visitors to the tune of 59-42.
The Golden Eagles will now hit the road in a rematch with Philander Smith (Ark.) in Little Rock on Saturday (Dec. 13). The matchup is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start time.
