LANGSTON, Okla. -- In their first Sooner Athletic Conference game of the season, the John Brown University men's basketball team fought off a resilient Langston (Okla.) squad with a 79-64 win on Thursday evening (Nov. 18) inside C.F. Gayles Fieldhouse.
Graduate student Densier Carnes led the way for the Golden Eagles (5-2, 1-0 SAC) with a game-high 29 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore Noah Taylor added 14 on 5-of-10 shooting. Junior Payton Guiot chipped in 13.
JBU outscored the Lions 40-16 in the paint, and dominated by a 22-0 margin in bench production.
Armani Allen led Langston with 25 points on 50 percent shooting (5-of-10), while Lacorian Ballard added 21.
With senior Luke Harper unavailable, Carnes' 11 first-half points on 4-of-7 shooting appeared to have the Golden Eagles in the driver's seat. However, after trailing the visitors by double digits, the Lions roared back.
After a Langston run, an Aren Thomas midrange jumper gave the Lions a 33-32 lead just before the half. Senior Ira Perrier answered back and gave the Golden Eagles the lead on a layup, but an Allen triple at the buzzer put the Lions up 36-34 at halftime.
A highly physical second half opened with the two teams trading baskets. Tied at 42, triples from Guiot and Taylor opened up a six-point lead for the Golden Eagles with 14:46 remaining. But the Lions wouldn't go away.
With the Golden Eagles up 55-48, Langston answered with a 7-0 run with five straight points from Lacorian Ballard to tie the game up at 55 with 11:13 to go.
The Golden Eagles would answer in a dominant way with a 13-0 run of their own, which began with a monstrous slam from graduate student Brenton Toussaint and featured two triples from Taylor and a plus-one finish from Carnes. This gave JBU a lead they would not relinquish on its way to the 79-64 final.
"Langston is always a great test," head coach Jason Beschta noted. "After a close first half, we continued to battle until we were able to string a few plays together to create a cushion. The rally really started on defensive end as we guarded the ball much better and had great gap help that allowed us to create some steals, which led to easier buckets at the other end.
"We have been talking about how we will respond when a game isn't going the way we hope, and the guys did a fantastic job of taking ownership and making the necessary changes. We showed a lot of fight tonight which I think is characteristic of who this team is."
JBU will attempt to move to 2-0 in conference play on Saturday (Nov. 20) in a matchup with Central Christian (Kan.). Tip-off is scheduled for 4:45 p.m. in Bill George Arena and will air live on the SAC Sports Network.
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