FORT WORTH, Texas -- Unable to weather five lead changes in the second half, the John Brown University men's basketball team fell in 83-70 fashion to Texas Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 19) inside the Sid Richardson Center.
The Golden Eagles (2-5, 0-2 Sooner Athletic) led by five, 61-56, with 9:54 remaining, but an offensive rut just wouldn't resolve itself as the visitors finished the contest 3-of-16 from the field, allowing Wesleyan (2-3, 1-1) to end the afternoon on a 27-9 run over the final 9:37 of the second half.
Senior Payton Guiot scored a game-high 24 points on 7-of-18 shooting, scoring six triples and adding four rebounds. Sophomore Latrell Maitland was the only other Golden Eagle able to finish in double-figure scoring with 12 points on an efficient 5-of-8 shooting effort.
The visitors shot 44 percent from the field (26-of-59) but were only able to convert 12 times from deep on 35 chances. Inside the arc, JBU hit 58 percent of shots attempted.
"I thought we really battled well for the first 32 minutes of the game, but those last eight minutes were tough," head coach Jason Beschta admitted. "[Texas Wesleyan] did a great job of attacking the basket during that stretch and finishing some tough drives. Add to that some missed shots, a couple turnovers and we just couldn't get things back on track.
"It won't get any easier going forward, but we have to just focus on continuing to improve, and we have to find a way to finish games."
Keyaun Hoskin led a quintet of Rams in double-digit scoring with 20 points, six rebounds and three steals. Akili Vining posted 17 points on 8-for-8 shooting at the charity stripe, while Gavin Harris and Lamine Komara added 14 points each. Micale Mee came off the bench to add 10 as the Rams' broke a three-game skid.
John Brown will play one more time before the Thanksgiving break. The Golden Eagles welcome No. 22 Evangel (Mo.) to Bill George Arena for some non-conference action on Tuesday afternoon (Nov. 22). Carried live on the SAC Sports Network, the tilt is slated to tip off at 4 p.m.
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