PLAINVIEW, Texas -- Neither team could find its scoring touch, but the Golden Eagles did enough at the line, improved the rebounding effort and rode a surge midway through the first half to hang on to a 78-67 victory over Science & Arts (Okla.) in the Sooner Athletic tournament semifinals on Friday night (March 6) inside the Hutcherson Center. The No. 9 John Brown University men's basketball squad will now appear in its second-consecutive SAC tournament championship.
Junior Densier Carnes posted 20 points and converted 9-of-10 from the free throw line, and three other Golden Eagles (28-4) scored in double-figures, but JBU had to battle through a pair of droughts to open each period. The first half featured a quick 10-0 Drover start, and the second-seeded Golden Eagles kicked off the contest pointless through the first five minutes of play – until the floodgates opened.
Carnes' jumper in the paint finally ended the first drought and was quickly followed by trio of three-pointers, two of which came off the hand of freshman Nathan Stolz from the left wing. The momentum continued as sophomore Luke Harper added a triple of his own and a Carnes steal sprung freshman James Beckom for a fast-break layup, forcing a Drover timeout.
At the end of the momentum swing, the Golden Eagles had completed a 17-2 and held sixth-seeded USAO without a field goal for nearly six minutes of play. Juniors Rokas Grabliauskas and Kiree Hutchings then went on a tandem run, scoring 11 consecutive points for the Golden Eagles, holding the three-possession lead down the stretch of the first period.
John Brown was again forced into an offensive lull after the intermission, but the stifling defense only allowed the Drovers to whittle the lead four, 37-33, before Hutchings' jumper finished off the first three-minute stretch.
Science & Arts tied the score three times in the second half, at 41, 44, and 49, but every time the Drovers evened the contest, JBU found an answer. After the game was knotted at 49, Carnes knocked down a triple off a Grabliasukas feed to stave off another USAO attempt. The Drovers closed back within one, 57-56, with 6:15 remaining, but Carnes' knocked back a dagger triple from the deep left corner pushed the margin back to four, and with 3:31 remaining, a Hutchings' trey pushed the game out of reach as John Brown took a commanding 65-59 lead.
The lead would grow to as many as 11, twice, despite a late flurry of triple attempts from the Drovers. JBU converted 17-of-21 from the charity stripe in the second half, and turned a 22-16 rebounding disadvantage at the break into a 41-40 narrow advantage by the end of the game.
The Golden Eagles only shot 9-of-28 from behind the arc, but seemed to knocked down the big triple when it was needed most. In fact, neither team hit over 40 percent from the field, but the league's best free-throw shooting team hit 25-of-34, while USAO was limited to a 17-of-27 performance at the line.
Grabliauskas finished the game 5-of-11 from the field and scored 17 points while dishing out a game-high five assists. Hutchings came off the bench to provide 14 points while senior Quintin Bailey found moments to dominate the paint, adding 10 points on an efficient 4-of-7 effort.
Dylan Causwell paced the USAO scoring effort with 13, while Stephon Hall and Cameron Hines each posted 12 points. Causwell (11 rebounds) and Hall (10 rebounds) each notched a double-double in the loss.
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The Golden Eagles will now advance to its third SAC tournament title contest since 2010, its last and only SAC tournament crown. John Brown fell to Oklahoma City in both the 2013 and 2019 editions of the finals after taking a 73-58 win over Rogers State (Okla.) in 2010.
