Siloam Springs, Ark. -- The Mid-America Christian University Evangels fell behind early and lost 85-61 at the John Brown University Golden Eagles in a Sooner Athletic Conference matchup Thursday night (Jan. 5) in Siloam Springs, Ark. 

The Golden Eagles (12-3, 4-3 SAC) took total command after a three by Cameron Langster brought the Evangels to within 12-9 at the 14:25 mark of the opening half. 

JBU scored the next 10 points to take a 13-point lead and led 24-10 on a pair of Adrian Miller free throws with 8:38 left. 

The Evangels clawed to within eight on three occasions before trailing 42-32 at the half. 

Charlie Shorter and George Haynes each scored to help the Evangels cut the deficit to seven at 43-36 in the early stages of the second half, but Coleson Rakestraw started and capped a 23-10 spurt by connecting from long-distance to give the Golden Eagles a 20-point lead of 66-46 and JBU never looked back. 

Shorter scored a game-high 23 points to lead the Evangels, while Haynes scored nine along with a team-high seven rebounds. 

Miller led five Golden Eagles in double-figures with 16 points, with Andy Garcia recording 13 points and a game-high 11 boards.  Miller also had double-digit rebounds of 10.  Rakestraw chipped in with 14 points.

The Golden Eagles had a huge edge overall on the boards, out-rebounding the Evangels 45-33.  But the Evangels held a 14-11 edge on the offensive glass.

JBU was clicking throughout offensively, shooting 52.1 percent (32-of-61) overall and a red-hot 57.1 percent (16-of-28) clip in the second half. 

The Evangels will next host No. 5-ranked Rogers State on Saturday evening (Jan. 7) at 5 p.m. in the Gaulke Activity Center.