Edmond, Okla. - The Mid-America Christian Evangels couldn't overcome a sluggish start and fell 75-57 to the Oklahoma Christian Eagles in a Sooner Athletic Conference matchup Thursday night (Jan. 6) in Edmond, Okla. 

Will Reinke helped the Eagles jump out to a quick start with seven points for a 14-2 lead with 13:59 left in the opening half. 

The Eagles scored the first 10 points of the contest, with Brandon Williams hitting the Evangels' first field-goal at the 15:47 mark.  

MACU fought back as a three by Gabriel Mason and a putback from Darius Gregory made it a six-point game with 10:08 remaining in the first half.

The Eagles extended the lead back to 11 with a 7-2 run that made it 25-14. 

A three by Brandon Troutman and a putback by Eric Randall gave the Eagles their biggest lead of the half at 34-17 with 3:04 remaining in the half.

The Eagles went on to an even bigger lead of 43-24 at the break.

A basket by Derek Johnson made it 52-29 when the Evangels clawed back as three points from Donell Lewis and a trey by Van Craven cut the lead to 17 with 14:39 remaining in the contest. 

Later, another three from Craven brought the Evangels as close at 16, but the Eagles scored the next six points to again pull away to a comfortable 22-point lead at 65-43 with 5:35 left. 

Williams hit a running jumper with 2:28 left that brought MACU to within 14, but it wasn't enough as Reinke scored inside and Chad Endres made two at the charity stripe to push the lead back to 18 at the 1:14 point. 

Pratt led the Evangels (7-6, 3-4 SAC) with 14 points and Camilo Valencia dished out a team-high five assists.

Reinke led four Eagles in double-figures with a game-high 17 points and 10 rebounds. 

The Evangels' slow start was due in large part to only a 28.1 percent (19-of-62) shooting clip in the first half. 

OC (10-4, 4-3 SAC) also had a huge advantage inside, out-rebounding the Evangels 51-33 overall along with a 32-10 edge in points in the paint. 

The Evangels will next host Northwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday night (Jan. 8). Tip-off will be at 8 p.m. at the Gaulke Activity Center.