Sunday, December 2, 2012
SILOAM SPRINGS — John Brown sophomore Max Hopfgartner even amazed himself Friday against Williams Baptist.
Fresh off of a pair of two-handed dunks late in the second half, Hopfgartner was running the fast break with senior guard Abel Galliguez.
JOHN BROWN 71, WILLIAMS BAPTIST 51
Williams Baptist 23 28 — 51
John Brown 34 37 — 71
Williams Baptist (5-3): Kyle Harvey 20, Julian Jones 7, Zabian Sanders 6, Chase Norwood 4, Phillip Sykes 4, Devin Hall 4, Donovan Coleman 4, Rashad Danzy 2.
John Brown (8-0): Max Hopfgartner 19, Nate Anderson 11, Kofi Josephs 8, D’Shon Taylor 7, Collin Hart 6, E.J. McWoods 5, Abel Galliguez 5, Kent High 4, Coleson Rakestraw 3, Kurtis Phillips 3.
Galliguez threw up a lob pass toward the rim, and Hopfgartner used all of his 6-foot-9 frame to grab the ball with two hands and slam home the alley-oop.
“That was a nice pass by Abel, a really nice pass,” Hopfgartner said. “I was really surprised I caught it and was still able to finish it.”
It was icing on the cake for the sophomore from Salzburg, Austria, who scored a career-high 19 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in a 71-51 JBU win at Bill George Arena.
The Golden Eagles improved to 8-0 overall with the victory. JBU hosted Oklahoma Wesleyan on Saturday night.
Hopfgartner’s performance was one of a couple of banner nights for the Golden Eagles’ big men against Williams Baptist (5-3), as the Walnut Ridge-based school came into the game leading NAIA Division I in rebounding.
Junior forward Kurtis Phillips (6-7) out of Adelaide, Australia, grabbed 13 rebounds, including eight on the offensive glass.
Freshman Nate Anderson, a 6-10 forward from Round Rock, Texas, scored a career-high 11 points, grabbed six rebounds and blocked four shots. Forward D’Shon Taylor, a 6-6 forward from Nassau, Bahamas, scored seven points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Overall JBU outrebounded Williams Baptist 58-45.
“We’re very proud of that too because their team was very good at rebounding,” said Hopfgartner. “They led the country so far in rebounding for NAIA. So coach has been really telling us to go rebound the last couple of days. I think we did a really good job tonight.”
It’s a good thing the Golden Eagles were active on the boards. JBU shot only 3 of 28 from behind the 3-point line and 25 of 72 from the field overall.
One of the three treys came right before halftime when Galliguez connected on a buzzer-beater from near midcourt to give the Golden Eagles a 34-23 lead.
JBU built up its lead to as many as 21 points in the second half.
Williams Baptist cut the lead to 10 with 4 minutes, 23 seconds left on a basket-and-one by Julian Jones.
Hopfgartner answered with two-handed slam and then a three-point play and another dunk to make it 64-49. His alley-oop jam came with 3:11 left in the game.
“I’m not exactly known for my dunks, but ... it was nice to be able to get a few at the end there.
JBU coach Clark Sheehy said Hopfgartner, who averaged last season as a freshman, worked hard in the offseason to get where he is now, leading JBU in scoring at 12.5 points per game.
“He’s set himself up to have games like today,” Sheehy said. “He should be playing with a lot of confidence because we’ve got a lot of confidence in him.
“He’s got such a ceiling to keep getting better.”
Sheehy was also pleased with the performances of his other big men — Anderson and Phillips.
“I thought (Anderson) gave us a long presence there,” Sheehy said. “He contested shots and made it hard on them. That’s what we need him to do. I didn’t expect him to score like that. That was a bonus.”
On Phillips, Sheehy said, “Offensively he hasn’t been as productive as what we think he can be this year. But at halftime we had nine offensive rebounds and he had seven of them. I think he’s got that ability. He can play inside and outside. He can go chase rebounds and he knows to play. He’s one of our better defenders too because he’s always in a good spot. His length helps us as well. I was excited with the way he played today.”