McPherson, Kan. – The Central Christian College men's basketball team opened Sooner Athletic Conference play with a 73-71 loss in overtime to the visiting John Brown University Golden Eagles.

It was a tight game from start to finish, with multiple ties and lead changes throughout both halves of play and into the overtime period. The Tigers led by as many as four, and trailed by as many as five points in the first half. When the buzzer sounded at the end of the period, down by three, 33-30.

The game continued to go back and forth for the majority of the second half. The Golden Eagles had their largest lead of the game, seven points, 61-54, with 3:24 left in regulation. The Tigers went on a run and cut the lead to one 63-62, with 28 seconds remaining. They missed the go ahead basket on their next possession and were forced to foul with 7 seconds left. The Golden Eagles made both free throw attempts to make it 65-62.

With time winding down, Chris Whitten came off a screen, got the ball, and nailed a three pointer at the buzzer to tie the game and send it into overtime.

In the five minute overtime session, the Tigers fell behind again, this time by six points. Again they found a way to claw their way back into the mix trailing by two points, 73-71 with the ball, and seven seconds on the clock. This time however, their shot at the buzzer, a contested 8 footer by Omari Maulana, wouldn't fall.

Key Statistic

The Tigers hit just 15 of 26 (57%) of their free throw attempts.

By the Numbers

For the game, the Tigers finished by making 25 of 70 (38%) of their attempts from the floor.

From deep they were 6 of 20 (30%)

Two Tigers scored in double figures, led by Whitten with 22.

The Tigers won the turnover battle 6 to 21, but were outrebounded by the Golden Eagles 51 to 24.

Tiger Leaders

Points: Chris Whitten (22)
Rebounds: Andre Shelby, Isaiah Perry (6)     
Assists: Malachi Farr (5)
Steals: Jevarrick Butler (4)
Blocks: Jalen Smith (2)
                                                                                                         
Coaches Quote:

"Tough loss tonight.  John Brown is a very tough team to defend, they are big, physical, smart and put a lot of pressure on you with their movement.  I really felt our guys rose to the challenge, we felt good about how we made them work throughout most of the night.   It came down to two things for us where we could have done a better job controlling, that was finishing plays on the defensive side of the ball.  Our first shot defense was pretty solid but we didn't reward ourselves by rebounding the ball.   We were outscored 16-4 on 2nd chance points, two possessions in the first half where we didn't execute on free throw box outs, those things are tough to swallow.  The second, we really struggled at the free throw line, we did a good job attacking and putting pressure on them driving the basketball, but didn't convert at the rate we are capable of.  We also had a small stretch the second half where we struggled getting a basket, we were up 4 and had opportunities to push the lead but just couldn't get much going, credit JBU, they were making it tough for us.  We will watch the film and see how we as coaches could have better helped our guys in that stretch." – Coach Romero

Next Up
 
The Tigers (2-4, 0-1), go on the road for the first time in SAC play, taking on the Oklahoma City University Stars on Saturday at 3:45 pm.