SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. -- Despite a furious second-half rally, the John Brown University men's basketball team four-game winning streak ended in a 77-75 loss to Texas Wesleyan University on Thursday evening (Dec. 5) inside Bill George Arena.
The Golden Eagles (6-3, 4-1 Sooner Athletic) battled back from a 15-point halftime deficit, outscoring the Rams 48-35 in the second half. Sophomore Trae Oetting led five JBU scorers with at least 10 points with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting, while senior Drew Miller added 12 points, three steals and four rebounds. Freshman Carter Carbonell chipped in 12 points – a career high, hitting 3-of-4 from behind the arc, and junior Josh Stewart led the team with seven rebounds.
Juniors LePray George Jr. and Elijah Lawrence contributed 11 and 10 points apiece, respectively.
JBU shot 51 percent from the field (28-of-55) and 44 percent from long range (10-of-23), but Texas Wesleyan capitalized on 10 offensive rebounds, converting the extra possessions 14 second-chance points. The visitors also dominated the paint, outscoring JBU 53-26 in the post.
The Rams opened the contest on a hot streak, shooting 58 percent (15-of-26) in the first half, jumping out to an 11-2 lead from which the Blue and Gold never recovered. Led by Richard Amaefule and Vegas Evans' nine points, the Rams used an 19-3 run midway through the first period to build its largest lead of the game at 19 points, 31-12, with eight minutes remaining.
Lawrence came off the bench and sparked a half-ending 15-11 run with five points, trimming the deficit to 42-27 at the intermission. JBU struggled to find its rhythm early, shooting just 36 percent (9-of-25) in the first 20 minutes.
The Golden Eagles came out firing in the second half, shooting an impressive 63 percent (19-of-30) from the floor. An 18-10 run sparked by back-to-back triples from Carbonell pulled JBU within one possession with, 69-67, with four minutes left.
Freshman Carter Carbonell provided a lift off the bench with a career-high 12 points, hitting three triples. Despite a late Miller triple to trim the TXWES lead to one, 76-75, the Rams finished 6-of-8 at the charity stripe to keep the JBU comeback from materializing.
Amaefule tallied a game-high 19 points for the Rams on 8-of-11 shooting from the charity stripe while adding five rebounds and three blocks. Evans contributed 15 points, and Montez Young Jr. added 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and seven rebounds.
Texas Wesleyan shot 55 percent (28-of-51) from the floor while hitting 17-of-23 from the free-throw line.
John Brown will look to bounce back on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 7) when it hosts Science & Arts (Okla.) inside Bill George Arena. Tipoff is set for 3:45 p.m., and the action will be broadcast live on the SAC Sports Network.
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