SILOAM SPRINGS -- Luke Harper's return to the lineup gave the John Brown men's basketball team a much-needed shot in the arm.
Harper, a 6-foot-3 junior guard from Plano, Texas, scored 27 points in his season debut to lift the Golden Eagles to their first win of the season 91-63 against Langston (Okla.) on Monday inside Bill George Arena.
Harper -- an All-Sooner Athletic Conference First Team selection and NAIA Third-Team All-American last year -- missed JBU's first three games of the season -- all losses -- because of covid-19 protocols. He said he was diagnosed with the virus on New Year's Day.
Harper said he was glad to be back on the court with his teammates.
"It was nice," he said. "It took a while. It's been so long. It's been like 320 days since we played. It was great to get back. ... There's nothing worse than watching your team play and not being able to really do anything besides cheer. The virus it definitely takes a while to get back to normal. I still don't feel like my normal self as far as lung capacity and all that."
Harper missed his first two shots from the field but quickly hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give JBU a 13-12 lead. He went on to score a basket-and-one and a long jumper before nailing a deep 3-pointer right before the half to give JBU a 45-28 lead at halftime. Harper had 18 points in the first half.
"None of knew what he'd look like," said JBU head coach Jason Beschta. "He didn't know what he'd look like necessarily. But we knew it would at least give us another threat out there, especially offensively. What was neat was as he scored, I thought it felt like everybody all of the sudden is a threat. I think some of these other games we felt like we had two threats out there. And all of a sudden with Luke it's like a load off."
Harper's teammates joined in the cause as five Golden Eagles (1-3, 1-3 SAC) finished with double digit points.
Densier Carnes hit three 3-pointers and had 15 points. Noah Taylor scored 12 points, while James Beckom had 11 and Brenton Toussaint added 10.
Ira Perrier added seven assists, seven rebounds and three steals.
"(Having Harper back) lets Ira just keep being Ira, finding ways," Beschta said. "Seven assists tonight, so good on the boards. He can impact a game more than probably anybody in our league without scoring."
JBU hit 36 of 74 shots from the field, including 11 of 34 from behind the 3-point line. The Golden Eagles turned it over only five times.
Langston cut JBU's lead to 16 early in the second half, but the Golden Eagles answered with a 17-4 run to take a 28-point lead. The Golden Eagles would lead by as many as 34 points in the second half.
The Golden Eagles are hopeful to get senior point guard Rokas Grabliauskas back for Thursday's game at Oklahoma Panhandle State, Beschta said. Sophomore post Nemanja Obradovic should be back next week, Beschta said.
"Everybody you add just kind of gives you a little more life," he said.
TaMarcus Butler led Langston (0-2, 0-2) with 21 points, while Jamaal Clifton scored 20 and David Hunt II added 10.