Weatherford, Okla. -- The Mid-America Christian Evangels were competitive early, but the No. 18-ranked (NCAA Div. II) Central Oklahoma Bronchos eventually pulled away to a comfortable 95-75 win in an exhibition contest for the Evangels at the Weatherford Chamber Basketball Classic Friday afternoon (Nov. 19) in Weatherford, Okla.
Nathan Pratt hit a three and a layup to help the Evangels take an early 5-1 lead.
The Bronchos (4-0) then outscored the Evangels 12-2 over the next 2:20 to go up by six.
MACU fought back on buckets from John Shodipo, Bradley Cosby and Camilo Valencia that squared the match at 13-13 at the 13:44 mark of the first half.
That's when the Bronchos slowly began to pull away as they went on a 14-5 run that gave them a nine-point lead with 8:59 left in the opening half.
A jumper by Brandon Williams cut the lead to seven, but the Bronchos closed the first half by outscoring the Evangels 22-14 over the final 8:33 to take a 49-34 lead into the break.
June Carter helped the Bronchos extend the lead by opening the second half with a three and a dunk that pushed the lead to 54-34.
The Bronchos led 56-36 when consecutive treys by Williams brought the Evangels (2-2) to within 14 with 17:22 remaining.
But Duantae Williams answered with a three of his own to begin a 17-7 charge that gave the Bronchos their largest lead of the game at 73-49 with 9:13 left.
With the deficit still at 22 with 6:03 left, the Evangels still had some fight left and outscored the Bronchos 11-0 over the next two minutes to come within 78-67 at the 4:16 mark.
But that's as close as the Evangels could get as the 18th ranked Bronchos scored the next seven points to extend the lead back to 17 and put the game away with only 2:03 left.
Williams led the Evangels with 15 points, while Cosby and Shodipo each scored 13. George Haynes pulled down a team-best eight rebounds and Donell Lewis had a team-high four assists.
Williams (19) and Shane Carroll (18) combined for 37 points to lead four Bronchos in double-figures.
MACU out-shot the Bronchos 49 percent (25-of-51) to 47.7 percent (31-of-65) and was only out-rebounded 39-38 overall.
But the Evangels were hurt by 32 turnovers that turned into 34 points for UCO.
The Evangels were outscored 34-17 in points off turnovers.
MACU will conclude action at the Classic with a matchup against tournament host Southwestern Oklahoma State tomorrow night (Nov. 20) at 7:30 p.m.
