OKLAHOMA CITY -- Senior guards Charlie Shorter and Camilo Valencia combined for 46 points to lead the Mid-America Christian University Evangels past the St. Gregory's University Cavaliers 81-66 in a Sooner Athletic Conference matchup Thursday night (Jan. 17) inside the Gaulke Activity Center. It's the Evangels fourth win in their last five games and runs their record to 8-5 overall and 3-1 in the SAC.
In a matchup of the SAC's two leading scorers in Shorter and Fayzon Richey, it was Richey getting the upper hand early with eight points as the Cavaliers built a 14-3 edge 4:22 into the contest.
Shorter quickly turned the tide by fueling a 26-6 run with 11 points and Valencia capped the spurt with a three that made it 29-20 with 2:31 left in the opening half.
The Cavaliers cut into the lead and came within four on a three by Richey at the end of the half that trimmed the Evangel lead to 35-31 at the break.
Valencia opened the second half with another trey as the Evangels built the lead again to nine in the first five minutes on a bucket by Josh Minner for a 47-38 lead.
Richey kept the Cavaliers close by scoring five points of a 7-0 run that brought SGU to within one at 47-46 with 13:40 left.
It was 51-49 when the Evangels finally pulled away for good with an 11-2 run as an alley-oop from Shorter to Minner made it 56-49 and Shorter then nailed a three to cap the spurt as MACU jumped out to a 62-51 edge at the 7:42 mark.
The Evangels (8-5, 3-1 SAC) never allowed the Cavaliers (6-8, 0-4 SAC) any closer than eight from that point and seven straight points from Shorter gave MACU its largest lead of the game at 79-58 with 2:13 remaining.
Shorter scored a game-high 26 points on 10-of-19 shooting from the floor and also recorded a game-high five steals. Valencia added a personal season-best of 20 points and also dished out a team-high five assists. Minner reached double-figures with 16 points and tied for team-high honors with five rebounds.
Richey finished with 24 points and Tim Stromberg was the only other Cavalier in double-figures with 10 points.
The Evangels defense was ferocious all night with 13 steals and forcing the Cavaliers into 27 turnovers. SGU did hold a 47-38 overall edge on the boards, with a 19-15 advantage on the offensive glass.
MACU will next gear up for a huge test at No. 10-ranked John Brown University on Saturday evening (Jan. 19) at 5 p.m. in Siloam Springs, Ark. JBU is on quite a roll with five straight wins, including a 75-70 win earlier tonight at No. 5-ranked Oklahoma Baptist University.
