Bartlesville, Okla. -- Down by
as many as 13 in the first half, the Mid-America Christian University
Evangels fought back and rallied for an 81-76 victory over the Oklahoma
Wesleyan Eagles in a non-conference matchup Tuesday night (Nov. 15) in
Bartlesville, Okla.
With the victory, the Evangels move to 3-0 for the first time since joining the NAIA in 2007.
It was a frantic final four minutes as the Evangels trailed 70-66 when a
putback by
Darius Gregory and a three by
Camilo Valencia gave MACU a
one-point lead with 3:35 remaining.
After Caleb Gentry put the Eagles back on top by one, a steal by Brandon
Williams led to a layup by
Charlie Shorter and then a trey by Cameron
Langster suddenly gave the Evangels a 76-72 lead.
The Eagles though weren't through as a three by Josh Young again cut the lead to one with 53 seconds left.
But Langster and Valencia each calmly sank two free throws to help close out the victory.
The Eagles jumped on the Evangels early and led 28-15 off a three by Julian Peters with 8:43 left in the opening half.
Valencia helped MACU finish the half strong with seven points down the
stretch to fuel a 22-11 run that made it 39-37 at the break.
Shorter led the Evangels with 20 points and hit 9-of-11 from the foul
line. Valencia added 15 points and hit 5-of-6 at the charity stripe.
Brandon Williams had 11 points and dished out a team-high three assists.
Darius Gregory grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.
Young paced the Eagles with a game-high 24 points and Gentry added 14.
The Evangels shot 43.6 percent (24-of-55) from the field, while limiting
the Eagles to only a 38.6 (27-of-70) shooting clip overall and 29.3
percent (12-of-41) from three-point distance.
MACU also out-rebounded the Eagles 35-30 overall.
Next up for the Evangels is a high-octane exhibition at home against No.
24-ranked Arkansas Tech on Saturday night (Nov. 19) at 7 p.m. at the
Gaulke Activity Center.
Arkansas Tech was 25-6 last year and made their third straight appearance in the NCAA D-II South Regional tournament.
