Ft. Worth, Texas -- In his 42nd and final season, Mid-America Christian University head coach Willie Holley continues to add to his already decorated resume. ?Just over a month since winning his 800th career game, Holley has now guided the No. 12-ranked Evangels to their first-ever Sooner Athletic Conference regular season championship with an 81-76 victory over the Texas Wesleyan University Rams tonight (Feb. 26) in Ft. Worth, Texas.?
The Evangels' victory coupled with an 85-79 loss by Wayland Baptist University to Oklahoma Baptist University gives MACU the title outright. ?
In Holley's bio, it states that "Holley's coaching style is to establish in his players a "no quit" attitude. ?It's only fitting that the Evangels clinched the conference title by executing precisely that style against the Rams.?
The Evangels trailed by 17 at the break and were still down 65-51 midway through the second half when they began to make their push.?
Chris Runnels began a run of 10 straight points with a layup that was followed by threes from Brock Hunter and Jerrick Massenburge to?cut the lead to six. ?
Hunter then put in an offensive rebound to cap the spurt and make it 65-61 with 6:50 remaining.?
After a score by Merv Lindsay temporarily stopped the run, layups from Semar Farris and Hunter brought the Evangels within two at the 5:15 mark.?
The Rams had one more burst though as a tip-in from Chris Gracela and a layup by Sam Akano pushed the deficit back to six at 71-65 with 4:28 left.?
But that's the point the Evangels put the clamps down and outscored the Rams 11-0 over the next 3:27 to jump ahead 76-71 with 1:01 remaining.?
Jarius Wilson got it going with a three and Chris Runnels scored six points to spark the game-changing run.?
After Jerrell Ellis scored for the Rams to make it a one-possession game with 43 seconds left, Farris stepped to the line and sank four free throws down the stretch to put it away. ?
"I am so proud of these young men," Holley said. ?"They were voted tied for fifth in the SAC and proved they have hearts of champions by winning the conference championship."?
Farris led the Evangels (21-8, 14-3 SAC) with 22 points, while Runnels scored a career-high 19. ?Hunter scored 14 and recorded a career-high five steals and also dished out a team-high five assists. ?Wilson added 12 points and secured a career-best eight rebounds to lead MACU.?
Akano paced the Rams (15-13, 4-13 SAC) with 21 points and Ellis chipped in with 17. ?Lindsay scored 13 and Gracela had a game-high 11 boards for TWU. ?
It was a tale of two halves offensively for both squads, as the Evangels cooled the Rams to only a 36.1 percent (13-of-36) shooting clip in the second half after allowing TWU to record a 55.9 percent (19-of-34) percentage from the field in the opening half.?
Conversely, the Evangels shot only 32.4 percent (11-of-34) in the first half before warming up to a 53.1 percent clip (17-of-32) in the second stanza.?
Having already wrapped up the conference title and No. 1 seed in next week's SAC Tournament, the Evangels will look to stay hot and win for the 14th time in their last 16 games?with a matchup at Wayland Baptist Saturday afternoon (Feb. 28) at 3 p.m. in Plainview, Texas. ?
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