Big Three Score Big, Wesleyan Wall Too Much for Golden Eagles
FT. WORTH, Texas (February 11, 2016) -- The John Brown men’s basketball team’s big three each scored in double figures, but No. 8 Texas Wesleyan held the Golden Eagles (11-13, 4-9 SAC) to a 44.3 percent shooting mark to take a 100-82 victory on Thursday (Feb. 11) evening inside the Sid Richardson Center.
The Sooner Athletic-leading Rams (20-4, 11-2 SAC) shot at a 60.7 percent clip and knocked down 14-of-23 from behind the arc (60.9 percent) to grab its 10th-consecutive victory.
The Golden Eagles, meanwhile, have now lost four straight, despite double-digit contributions from seniors Luke Moyer and Griffin Brady along with junior Ricky Roberts.
Wesleyan featured six players in double figures, led by BJ Batts’ 27 points off the bench, helping the hosts to a 51-18 margin in points from reserves. Jerell Ellis notched 20 and Sam Akano 19, while Henry Buckley and Chris Gracela contributed 13 and 10 points, respectively in the victory.
TWU racked up seven rejections in the victory.
The Rams hit each of their first six shots of the game and each of their first six attempts from downtown. The Golden Eagles stayed in the game with a long-range attack of its own, sinking 15 treys to Wesleyan’s 14.
Although the hosts led by as many as 16, 39-23, in the first half, JBU cut the margin to eight before the break thanks to a 10-3 run late in the first half. Freshman Josh Bowling’s layup came just before two triples from Moyer, the second of which was of the old-fashioned variety, and Roberts hit a runner in the lane to force a 46-38 score.
Down 58-50 early in the second half, a 16-0 run over a 7:42 span was finally broken by a Moyer triple, but the Golden Eagles faced an 18-point deficit with just over nine to play. Moyer would rack up eight more points over the final portion of the period, but the 18-point gap would stick for the remainder of the contest.
Moyer finished with a team-best 26 points on 7-of-13 shooting from behind the arc. Roberts knocked down 17 points and racked up a game-high five assists and seven boards. Brady finished with 14 points on a 6-of-14 mark from the field.
The eighth-ranked Rams out-rebounded John Brown, 38-31, and owned the paint to the tune of 40-24.
The Golden Eagles will look to end its four-game skid when it takes on Southwestern A.G. (Texas) in Waxahachie on Saturday (Feb. 13) at 3 p.m. John Brown has yet to defeat the Lions since SAGU joined the Sooner Athletic two seasons ago.
