SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. -- Vying for a first-day bye at the upcoming Sooner Athletic Conference tournament, the Golden Eagles (19-9, 9-9 SAC) took one step closer tonight by netting 11 three-pointers in a 69-63 victory over Oklahoma Baptist (13-15, 7-11 SAC) tonight at Bill George Arena.
Kofi Josephs poured in a game-best 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting to propel John Brown into a tie with Science & Arts (Okla.) for sixth place in the conference. His four triples proved to be a game-high. Gilbert Gyamfi dished out a team-high four assists, as did Kurtis Phillips. Gyamfi finished with 15 points on a trio of three-pointers and four rebounds. Phillips completed his third double-double of the season by scoring 10 points and collecting a game-high 12 rebounds. Jared Johnson chipped in nine points as did Max Hopfgartner.
Josephs drew two defenders to him at the point before dishing a great pass to Quinton Smith, building a 63-55 JBU lead with only 3:55 remaining in the game. Five-straight Baptist points pulled the visitors to within three, 63-60, but Josephs tallied his final bucket of the game until Gyamfi and Phillips went 4-of-4 from the line to ice the game, 70-63.
Two quick Bison treys buried John Brown in an early 6-0 hole. Josephs led the Golden Eagle return by scoring a pair of his four triples on the evening, knotting the game at eight apiece. Zach English dished off a pass to Phillips down low for an 11-10 lead, but neither team would find the hoop for the next 3:23 until OBU's Hayden Darst broke the drought. Hopfgartner hit a shot in the post and Josephs split a pair of chances at the line, forcing the afternoon's second tie, 15-15.
Despite allowing the Bison to a small four-point lead, Gyamfi nailed a long-range bucket from the left arc and followed the bomb with a second just 2:38 later, sending the hosts on a 10-0 run, resulting in a six-point lead, 27-21. Baptist cut the lead to two on two occasions, but Hopfgartner's basket down low from Phillips and Josephs shot from behind the arc kept the Bison from tying the score. Tyler Davis netted a triple to close the first-half scoring which ended with a 35-33 Golden Eagle lead.
Smith's triple to open the second half sent JBU on a 9-0 run, highlighted by tallies from Josephs, Gyamfi and Jared Johnson. At the 8:37 mark, OBU completed an 8-2 run, forcing a narrow 54-51 margin, but Phillips converted an and-one just after securing Smith's misfire with 7:19 remaining in the game. Josephs essentially stalled Baptist's hope of a comeback as he hit his fourth and final three-pointer of the game from the top of the arc, widening the gap to eight, 60-52.
Both teams played equally well, but the visitors managed to capture advantages in points off the bench (20-9), rebounds (37-31), and turnovers (11-8). John Brown netted three more triples than Oklahoma Baptist on the same number of attempts (25), finishing the game with a 44 percent clip from behind the arc. JBU earned a 48 percent shooting mark overall (24-of-50) and held Baptist to a 23-of-58 effort (39.7 percent).
Aaron Abram led the Bison with 16 points and eight rebounds. Cale Jackson added 15 points and Eric Stubbs had 10 points. Kendall Parks had nine assists and three steals.
In order to finish in the top five seeds of the SAC tournament, the Golden Eagles will look to sweep the final week of the regular season by securing victories over Northwood (Texas) on Thursday (Feb. 27) at 8:00 p.m. before knocking off the conference's top team in Southwestern A.G. (Texas) on Saturday (March 1) at 3:00 p.m.
