Incredible First-Half Surge Sends Men’s Basketball to Easy Win over Cavaliers
SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. (January 28, 2016) -- Facing a 21-16 first-half deficit, the John Brown men's basketball team (11-10, 4-5 SAC) responded with a run unlike any other this season and held St. Gregory's (Okla.) to a 33.3 percent shooting night to run away with an 80-64 win on Thursday (Jan. 30) inside Bill George Arena.
Powered by junior Ricky Roberts’ second-straight double-double, the Golden Eagles turned around a fairly pedestrian first half shooting efficiency into a 23-point lead at the break. Roberts scored a game-best 24 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor and hit 10-of-11 from the line. Completing the double-double with 10 boards, Roberts was joined by senior Griffin Brady who also nabbed 10 caroms to land his seventh double-double. Brady hit 6-of-10 from the floor to finish with 13 points as he now leads all Sooner Athletic players with seven double-doubles.
Senior Luke Moyer struggled behind the arc, but hit 3-of-15 in two-point range to contribute 17 points in the victory.
With the production cemented from its big three, junior Zach English recorded his second double-figure effort in the second semester, hitting 3-of-4 from downtown.
Down five, 21-16, JBU pieced together an improbably 30-5 run to close out the first stanza. Brady, Moyer and Roberts hits buckets while freshman Jake Caudle splashed a three to jump-start eight-consecutive possessions with points. It wasn’t until a traveling call broke John Brown’s blazing scoring streak, but at the point, the hosts had turned a 21-16 deficit into a 34-21 lead. Freshman Brandon Joseph hit his first triple of the evening before Moyer caught fire, hitting three-straight attempts, including two behind the line, to close out the first half.
At the 16:32 mark, English continued the Golden Eagle offensive dominance by drilling consecutive treys for a 59-31 advantage. With the differential at 23, the lead grew to a game-high 29 after junior Miguel Martinez hit a hook shot in the paint which was followed by English’s third triple of the half. Moment later, English split a pair at the stripe, pushing the lead to 29, 69-40, a game-high.
The John Brown offense went cold at the 10:26 mark of the contest, however, as JBU would not score another field goal for the remainder of the game. An 11-0 SGU rally closed the gap 20, 78-58, before whittling the final score to a differential of 16.
Ten first-half turnovers hampered the visitors as JBU scored 13 off the Cavalier miscues. JBU was out-boarded by just one carom, but forced SGU (7-10, 2-7 SAC) into three more turnovers (15-12).
Stephen Walter led the visitors with 18 points on 6-of-16 shooting, which was 10th time he has scored at least 18 this season. Richard Shields wasn't far behind with 16, while Zachary Lemusu pulled down a season-best 11 boards in the loss.
St. Gregory's has now lost five straight while John Brown has won two straight and four of six.
With the win, John Brown pulls into a tie for seventh overall in a very muddled conference table. The Golden Eagles will begin the second half of conference play on Saturday (Jan. 30) against Oklahoma City and will attempt its first season sweep of the year. Tip off with the Stars is slated for 5 p.m.
