SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. -- For the second time this season, the John Brown mens basketball team (6-6) passed the century mark, taking care of Ecclesia (Ark.), 101-60, in non-conference action on Friday (Dec. 11) night inside the Bill George Arena.
The Golden Eagles posted 56 second-half points and received a career-high 30 points from senior Luke Moyer in the win. JBU also turned the ball over just 10 times, a season low, and grabbed 15 offensive boards to score 21 second-chance points.
Aided by freshman Marquis Wallers career-high 10 boards, the Golden Eagles heavily out-rebounded the Royals (8-3), 50-32. Freshman Brandon Joseph came off the bench to score 11 on a 9-of-9 effort from the line, leading the JBU reserves to its best output of the year (46 points). For the eighth time this year, John Brown shot over 45 percent, hitting 33-of-70 (47.1 percent) from the floor and knocking down 10-of-24 chances from long range.
Moyer connected on 10-of-13 from the floor and, more impressively, 7-of-9 from behind the arc in his career-best outing. Senior Griffin Brady impacted the game in an unusual manner by grabbing eight boards and dishing out a team-best and career-high four assists. Junior Ricky Roberts contributed double-digits for the 11th-straight time, netting 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting and missed the double-double by a single rebound.
The game started off with a quartet of scoring changes, kicked off with Moyers first field goal. The Royals responded with a triple only to have Brady score his first bucket of the game on the next possession. Down 4-3, the RoyalsDeQucelan Bagsby hitting a running floater in the paint to momentarily reclaim the lead. Finally, over 90 seconds later, John Brown took the lead for good on Moyers triple at the 16:32 mark, which would jump-start a personal 8-0 Moyer run that handed JBU a 12-7 lead, and for good.
Moyer would go on to score 23 of his 30 points in the first half, 18 of which came from downtown. He would hit back-to-back triples at the 55 and 25 second marks, creating the largest gap of the first half (25 points).
John Brown would hit 4-of-9 chances from behind the arc in the second half as the bench production began to mount. Junior Miguel Martinez added four points in the final frame, fueling John Browns runaway victory. Junior Matthew Ledfords triple from the deep right corner with 21 seconds left built JBUs largest lead of the game, 41.
Bagsby hit three triples en route to a team-best 17 points while David Gaut Jr. came off the bench to provide 10 points, five boards and three assists for Ecclesia in the loss.
With the game serving as the teams final home contest of the first semester, the Golden Eagles will now travel to Santa Clarita, Calif., to pariticpate in the 2015 Jersey Mike's New Year's Classic where JBU will take on San Diego Christian (Calif.) and The Masters (Calif.) in non-conference action.
