SILOAM SPRINGS -- A 10-point lead in the first half fizzled down the stretch as the John Brown University men's basketball team fell to Oklahoma City on Tuesday (Jan. 25) night, 73-62, inside Bill George Arena.
The Golden Eagles (13-9, 7-7 Sooner Athletic) came out of the gates shooting 10-of-12 from the floor, led by seven points from junior DJ Ellis to pull ahead 23-13. Then the offense fell into a rut.
Over the next 13:46 spanning into the early parts of the second half, the hosts shot just 2-of-16 from the floor as the visitors responded with a 26-6 run to take its own 10-point lead, 39-29, at the 18:00 mark of the second half.
After a pair of Latrell Maitland buckets and a Luke Harper triple, the Golden Eagles used an 11-5 run to close the gap to just three points, 50-47, but a 14-3 Oklahoma City retaliatory run returned the deficit to 14 points. The margin would grow to a game-high 17 points with just over five minutes left in the contest.
Four Golden Eagles finished in double-figure scoring, paced by graduate student Rokas Grabliauskas. Three of his four field goals came from behind the arc, while he dished out a team-best four assists. Perrier, Harper and Ellis all contributed 10 points, and Harper finished just shy of the double-double with nine rebounds.
The Stars (11-10, 10-4) won its third straight behind 18 points from Kori Guest. Rashaun Coleman added 14 points, while Ryan Birt notched 13. Dravon Clayborn and Romario Spence added 12 and 10 points, respectively.
JBU finished the evening shooting 39 percent (25-of-65), but just 27 percent (9-of-33) from long range.
Next up for JBU, the Golden Eagles host North Texas at Dallas for the first time in program history Thursday (Jan. 27) evening at 7:45 p.m. The game will air live on the SAC Sports Network.
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