ADA, Okla. – Coming off a thrilling comeback victory over Oklahoma Baptist on Saturday, the East Central University men's basketball continued their win streak with a 78-55 non-conference win over John Brown University on Monday afternoon in the Kerr Activities Center.
 
With the victory, the Tigers moved to 7-3 overall on the season. The ECU men's team will have more than two weeks off before facing Arkansas Tech University on Jan. 4 in Russellville, Arkansas.
 
"It was a good win for us today, especially going into the break," Head Coach Daniel Wheeler said. "This group continues to grow and get better. I really liked the way we shared it today. John Brown is hard to guard and we were able to string some stops together."
 
John Brown opened up the scoring, holding the early lead for four and a half minutes until Godsgift Ezedinma's layup tied the score 6-all and Keyon Thomas' layup gave ECU the lead for good. The Tigers extended their advantage to as much as 19 points in the first half, but with a few made jumpers by the Golden Eagles down the stretch, ECU held a 37-23 lead heading into halftime.
 
Out of the break, John Brown caught ECU on their toes as they went on a 13-4 scoring run to cut the deficit down to five points at 36-41. However, the Tigers quickly responded, and with a three-pointer from Bryce Woolridge at the 12:24 mark, ECU never looked back as they led by double-digits the rest of the way.
 
ECU outrebounded John Brown 34-27 and shot 53.8% including 10-of-27 from beyond the arc.
 
The Tigers had a balanced team effort, with nine players in the scoring column while four reached double-digit figures.
 
Keyon Thomas led with his third straight 20-plus point performance shooting 7-for-11 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
 
Bryce Woolridge contributed 15 points on 6-of-7 (85.7%) shooting, three of which came from beyond the arc, while Godsgift Ezedinma put up 13 points and five rebounds.
 
Robel Desta collected 11 points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds.