OKLAHOMA CITY – In a battle of the past two Sooner Athletic Conference regular season champions, the No. 1-ranked Mid-America Christian University Evangels found a way to come out on top for a dramatic 91-90 victory over the No. 20-ranked Texas Wesleyan University Rams tonight (Dec. 1) in the SAC opener inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
"Our group showed a ton of heart and fight," MACU head coach Josh Gamblin said. "They never quit."
With the Evangels down 90-89 late in the second half, Tyler Chaisson drew a foul inside and stepped to the line and hit the two go-ahead free throws with five seconds remaining.
The Evangels then forced a missed shot on the defensive end to finish off the win.
To reach that point, the Evangels had to overcome an outing where they trailed nearly the entire way and were down by as many as 17 points at the 12:32 mark of the second half.
That's when the Evangels made their move behind eight straight points from Devonse Reed that ignited a string of 10 straight points that cut the lead to seven at 76-69.
After the Rams temporarily halted the run with a score from Trevon Jeffrey, Reed assisted on a jumper by Malcolm Mann and then threes from Keyshawn Perkins and Ex'Zavia Seaton pulled the Evangels within one at 78-77, the closest MACU had been since the 17:52 mark of the first half.
The Rams answered and the Evangels got within one on two more occasions before TWU stretched the lead back to five on a bucket by Jeffrey with 3:47 left.
From there, the Evangels finally broke through as a three-point play by Mann, putback from Reed and trey by Olajuwon Garner gave MACU its first lead of the game at 89-86 with 56 seconds remaining.
Dion Rogers responded for the Rams and hit two free throws before capitalizing on a turnover for a go-ahead layup with 31 seconds left.
The opening half was a three-point showcase for both schools, as the Rams led 54-45 at the break primarily on the strength of hitting 12-of-21 from the perimeter for a 57.1 percent (12-of-21) clip.
The Evangels stayed in the game by hitting nine threes of their own in the opening stanza on 17 attempts.
A big key to the Evangels rallying was limiting the Rams to only 3-of-11 from beyond the arc in the second half.
Devante Moore led the Evangels (8-2) with 16 points, followed by Mann's 14 points and team-high eight assists. Seaton scored 13 along with a career-high 15 rebounds for a double-double.
Reed also finished with 13 points for MACU and Chaisson scored 11.
Jeremy Crane came off the bench to lead the Rams (7-2) with 23 points and Rogers scored 16.
Naiel Smith recorded a double-double of 15 points and 10 assists, while Jeffrey had 13 and a team-best eight boards for the Rams.
The Evangels also wound up with a 46-40 edge overall on the glass.
Next up the Evangels will stay at home and host Bacone College Saturday afternoon (Dec. 3) at 3 pm.
