Siloam Springs, Ark. -- The No. 16-ranked Mid-America Christian University Evangels took control early in the second half and went on to an 84-74 victory at the John Brown University Golden Eagles tonight (Feb. 12) in Siloam Springs, Ark.

The victory keeps the Evangels a full game ahead of Wayland Baptist University for the top spot in the Sooner Athletic Conference with a 10-3 league record.

The Evangels trailed by as much as 11 in the opening half before rallying within 41-39 at the break.

It was a 46-44 deficit when Chris Runnels scored consecutive buckets to ignite a run of 16 straight points that suddenly put the Evangels in front 60-46 at the 12:43 mark of the second half.

The Evangels continued to pull away and twice built the lead to 18 but saw the Golden Eagles crawl back as five straight points from Zach English capped a 16-4 spurt that cut the lead to 80-74 with 1:17 left.

But the Evangels put the clamps down from there and Brock Hunter made three free throws in the final 19 seconds to put it away.

Semar Farris led all scorers with 26 points and also equaled his career-high with seven steals for the Evangels (17-8, 10-3 SAC).  Runnels scored 16 and Jarius Wilson added 14. Hunter had 11 points and also tied his career-best with four thefts.

Griffin Brady led the Golden Eagles (14-11, 6-7 SAC) with 16 points and nine boards.  Max Hopfgartner scored 14, while DJ Feitl and Samson Olayemi each had six assists.

After allowing the Golden Eagles to shoot 57.1 percent (16-of-28) in the first half, the Evangels tightened up and held JBU to only a 41.9 percent (13-of-31) clip in the second half.

The Evangels will go for their 10th win in their last 12 games at USAO Saturday afternoon (Feb. 14) at 5 p.m. in Chickasha, Okla.