Shawnee, Okla. -- Playing in his final regular season game, senior guard Camilo Valencia scored a career-high 27 points to help the Mid-America Christian University Evangels secure their highest finish in the Sooner Athletic Conference since becoming an NAIA school with an 81-70 victory at the St. Gregory's University Cavaliers in the regular season finale Saturday night (Feb. 23) in Shawnee, Okla.
The win gives the Evangels a share of the third spot in the SAC with USAO and the Evangels will enter the SAC Postseason Tournament as the No. 3 seed thanks to a tiebreaker. As of this release, the Evangels will play sixth-seeded Rogers State University Thursday (Feb. 28) in the quarterfinals of the SAC Postseason Tournament. Times will be announced tomorrow.
MACU never trailed and led by as many as 18 in the second half before the Cavaliers made things interesting in the late stages.
The Cavaliers crept to within five by scoring seven straight points as a bucket by Devonte Young made it 73-68 with 1:38 remaining.
But the Evangels didn't flinch as Charlie Shorter and Camilo Valencia combined to make six straight at the charity stripe to build the lead back to nine at 79-70 with 56 seconds left. A free throw from Josh Smith and another from Valencia over the final 46 seconds then put it away for MACU.
The Evangels (14-11, 9-7 SAC) came out firing on all cylinders as Camilo Valencia knocked down three treys in the first eight minutes of the game for a commanding 24-4 lead.
The lead grew to 22 when the Cavaliers made a charge back as Fayzon Richey and Dylan Lemley combined for nine points of a 10-1 spurt to come within 28-16 at the 7:26 mark of the first half.
SGU came as close as nine in the opening half before the Evangels closed the half on a 7-2 run for a 38-24 lead at the break.
Valencia was extremely efficient in his career-best scoring output, shooting 7-of-11 overall from the field, 6-of-7 from beyond the arc and 7-of-8 from the foul line. Shorter scored 22 points and had six rebounds, while Josh Minner added 13 points and a team-high eight boards.
Richey, the SAC's second-leading scorer next to Shorter, led all scorers with 34 points and Lemley chipped in with 10.
The Evangels out-rebounded SGU 39-32 overall and 19-11 on the offensive glass, but were out-shot 46.2 percent (24-of-52) to 42.2 percent (27-of-64) from the field. It marks the first time the Evangels have won a game this season in which the opposition shoots a higher percentage.
MACU will be going for their third victory this season over the Rogers State University Hillcats. The Evangels bested the Hillcats 93-84 in the first meeting on the road and then rallied from 13 down in the second half to beat RSU 76-72 in OKC.
