Pilots denied elite 8 showing by John Brown
March 21, 2005
Pilots crash in NAIA Tournament March 19, 2005 By David Mitchell
shreveportsports@gannett.com
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Unseeded John Brown twice rallied from 10-point, first-half deficits and eliminated 10th-seeded LSU-Shreveport, 61-56, late Friday night in the second round of the NAIA men's basketball tournament.
LSUS (27-9) surged to an early 16-6 lead. The Eagles (21-11) pulled within 18-17 when the Pilots went more than eight minutes without a field goal.
Derrick Sowell gave LSUS some breathing room when he scored seven of his 11 points in an 11-2 run that made it 29-19 with 2:11 left in the first half.
The Pilots, who were making their first appearance in the national tournament, led 29-24 at the break.
John Brown overcame the loss of senior center Ryan Woodson, who was ejected for a flagrant foul with his team trailing 34-29 with 16:26 to play. The Eagles took a 44-42 lead on a 3-pointer by Adam Workman with
8:56 to play, and there were eight more lead changes down the stretch.
Freddy Hughes, who scored 11 points, gave LSUS a 56-54 lead when he completed a three-point play with 2:49 remaining, but the Pilots turned the ball over on their next two possessions.
Workman, who finished with 10 points, hit another 3-pointer with 30.5 seconds left to give the Eagles the lead for good at 59-56. Brandon Cole, who led JBU with 18 points, missed two foul shots with 20.6 seconds left, but Fredericko Payne and Hughes both missed 3-pointers LSUS' final possessions.
Payne entered the tournament as the nation's leading scorer with a 25.8-point average, but he struggled for the second straight game and finished with nine points on 3-of-17 shooting.
The Pilots shot just 29.2 percent from the field (19-65), compared to 36.3 percent (16-44) for the Eagles. John Brown also had an advantage at the free-throw line, making 20 of 34, compared to 11 of 16 for LSUS.
"They did a good job defensively,'' LSUS coach Chad McDowell said. "We actually got some good looks that we didn't knock down. It's a credit to them defensively. It was a great defensive effort by both teams.''
Derrick Rogers led LSUS with 12 points. Derrick Hill had a game-high 16 rebounds for LSUS, which was outrebounded 43-40.
"We're the top team in NAIA in field goal percentage defense,'' John Brown coach John Sheehy said. "Obviously we don't have the foot speed or the personnel to keep up with LSU. But we did a good job of getting a hand in their face and obstructing shots.''
The game was delayed for more than 90 minutes by a scoreboard malfunction earlier in the day and a triple-overtime contest. The game scheduled for 8 p.m. ended at 11:15 p.m.
John Brown, the Arkansas school playing in the tournament for the third straight year, will play the winner of the late game between Biola (Calif.) and Southern Polytechnic (Ga.) at 8 tonight. JBU won for the seventh time in eight games.
Pilots misfiring
LSUS was eliminated in the second round of the NAIA Tournament on Friday night after the Pilots suffered a second straight off night shooting.
FG Pct. 3-point Pct.
Regular season .424 .352
vs. Cumberland .377 .200
vs. John Brown .292 .304
