SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. -- On an evening where its leading scorer was limited to nine points, the John Brown University men's basketball team still pieced together a near 20 point comeback and continued the momentum into overtime, capturing a 100-91 win over Bacone (Okla.) on Tuesday night (Jan. 16) inside Bill George Arena.
Junior Jake Caudle finished with just nine points, but junior Josh Bowling and freshman Nathan Corder stepped up to take some of the offensive slack at just the right time. Corder scored 14 of his career-high 21 points in the second half while freshman Rokas Grabliauskas added 12 of his 14 on the evening in the second stanza, both heavily contributing to a massive JBU comeback.
As in most of its Sooner Athletic contests thus far, the Golden Eagles (10-5, 5-3 Sooner Athletic) faced a 19-point deficit, 63-44, with 12:35 left in the contest, but at that point, JBU finished the second half shooting 14-of-18 from the floor (77.8 percent) and finally tied the game with just 19 seconds left to play.
What You Need to Know
» Tonight's 19-point comeback marks a tied for the largest comeback win for JBU this season, matching the 19 JBU trailed Central Christian (Kan.) on Dec. 5.
» Freshman Nathan Corder hit five triples tonight, the second time this season he's hit at least that many. He also had six in JBU's win at Central Christian.
» The Warriors' offense performed significantly better tonight than its season averages, posting 91 points and a 49.3 percent mark from the floor, easily besting its 77.2 points per game average and 40.2 percent average from the floor.
» Bacone was without the services of its second and third-leading scorers on the season, Ramon Ajose and Jason Gammage, (unspecified reasons). |
JBU's deficit woes started in the first half when Bacone ran away on a 20-5 run to blow open a 30-15 lead after sophomore Brenton Toussaint's thunderous jam tied the game at 10 apiece. Starting 0-of-8 from behind the arc didn't help, but finally sophomore Kristijan Joksimovich's triple as time expired in the first half brought John Brown back within five at the intermission.
While both teams shot over 50 percent in the first half, the Golden Eagles jumped to nearly 60 percent (16-of-27) in the second half, powered by Corder's 5-of-6 mark from the floor, including four triples, while Grabliaskas sank seven of JBU's last 10 points, including an acrobatic and-one conversion with 51 seconds left.
In the final 1:51 of regulation, the Golden Eagles completed a 10-1 run to push the game into overtime.
In the extra session, it was all John Brown as the hosts out-scored Bacone 21-12 as JBU shot 5-of-8 from the floor, hitting all 10 chances at the free throw line. Bacone shot 4-of-9, but the Golden Eagles out-boarded the visitors 6-2.
While the Warriors (3-13, 0-8) hit nearly 50 percent of its chances (35-of-71), the Golden Eagles set a season best mark from the field, knocking down 58.3 percent of attempts (35-of-60).
Jordan McNellys also had 21 points and five assists as Corey Swift and Kevin Pritchett contributed 19 and 18 points, respectively. Mauris Hopkins registered 17 in the setback as Bacone searches for its first SAC victory of the season.
The Golden Eagles return to action on Thursday (Jan. 18) at Science & Arts (Okla.) in a scheduled 8 p.m. tipoff.
