CLAREMORE, Okla. – After nearly a week off for finals, the Rogers State men's basketball team passed the test that is the John Brown Golden Eagles with a, 67-62, victory Saturday night at the Claremore Expo.
The night marked the return of point guard Maurice Rutherford to the Hillcats attack and despite only tallying three points on the night the senior made the most of it.
After a pair of EJ McWoods free throws cut the RSU lead to one point, Rutherford took a pass from Justynn Hammond and maneuvered under one JBU defender and made contact with another as he laid the ball off the glass to build the Hillcat lead back to three points. The Broken Bow, Okla. native converted the and-one free throw putting the Cats ahead 63-59 with 15 seconds left.
McWoods immediately answered the call for the Golden Eagles with a 3-pointer with seven seconds left. The Hillcats quickly inbounded the ball into the front court and Alex Ewings laid it in with two seconds left. JBU passed the ball straight into the hands of Hammonds who was fouled and went to line, knocking in both shots and giving RSU the 67-62 victory.
The Golden Eagles built an early 9-2 lead over the Hillcats in the opening stanza but RSU gained its first lead of the game on a 3-pointer by A.J. Stewart to put RSU up 10-9. Coach Justin Barkley's squad gained the lead again with 5:32 remaining in the first half and led at the intermission 26-24. The Hillcats gave up the advantage just once in the second half as JBU led for all of 39 seconds at 46-45 with 8:41 remaining.
John Brown (10-2, 2-2) was led in scoring by Adrian Miller with a game high 22 points. McWoods finished the game with 14 points and nabbed seven rebounds. JBU out-rebounded the Hillcats 43-28 but the Golden Eagles turned the ball over 22 times as RSU finished with 12 steals and 15 points off turnover.
Donald Williams led the Hillcats in scoring with 13 points while Kenny Edwards added 12 points. Hammond finished with seven points, dishing out five assists and nabbing four steals. All nine players that saw time for the Hillcats appeared in the scoring column.
With the victory RSU claimed the season sweep over JBU and moves the all-time series record to 7-5.
Rogers State (8-0, 4-0) will make a quick turnaround facing another Arkansas school in Ecclesia College on Monday, Dec. 12 at the Claremore Expo with tip time set for 7 p.m. Live video streaming will be provided at www.rsuhillcats.com/live.
