Oklahoma City, Okla. -- Kenny Hewitt scored a game-high 24 points as the Lubbock Christian Chaps notched a 68-57 win over the Mid-America Christian Evangels in a Sooner Athletic Conference matchup Thursday night (Dec. 2) at the Gaulke Activity Center.
The Chaps were in control from the outset and never trailed throughout.
Hewitt scored three straight buckets to help the Chaps (7-1, 3-0 SAC) jump out to a quick 16-5 lead.
John Shodipo converted a three-point play and then nailed a trey as part of a 7-2 run that made it 18-12 with 10:26 left in the opening half.
The Chaps then out-scored the Evangels 13-5 over the next four minutes as a three by Al Duvall capped the run and LCU went on to a 33-25 lead at the half. .
Shodipo opened the second half with a pair of free throws that made it a six-point game before Hewitt sparked an 11-0 run with six points for a 44-27 lead with 16:28 remaining.
The deficit was 15 when Nathan Pratt scored and then hit a three to fuel a 9-2 spurt and bring the Evangels to within 63-55 at the 1:42 mark.
But Matt Read answered with a bucket to push the lead back to 10 and the Evangels could get no closer than eight from that point.
Shodipo paced the Evangels with 12 points and Darius Gregory added 10. Nathan Pratt scored nine along with a team-high seven rebounds.
Hewitt's 24 points came on 12-of-18 shooting from the field. Duvall scored 13 and Russ Permenter chipped in with 10.
The Evangels (2-4, 0-2 SAC) were hurt by cold-shooting from the floor throughout the contest. MACU shot only 25.7 percent (9-of-35) in the opening half. The shooting didn't get much better for the Evangels in the second half, as they could muster only a 37.9 percent (11-of-29) shooting clip.
Meanwhile, the Chaps shot 51.7 (15-of-29) in the first half and then followed that up with a blazing 59.1 percent (13-of-22) in the second half.
The rebounding overall was nearly even, with the Chaps holding a slim 38-37 edge and the Evangels holding a 17-5 advantage on the offensive glass.
Next up the Evangels will host Wayland Baptist on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 4) at 3 p.m.
