LANGSTON, Okla. – The Mid-America Christian University men's basketball team faced its toughest test so far in the 2017-18 season on Tuesday evening, heading north of the Oklahoma City metro area to do battle with the Langston University Lions in the final regular season meeting of the two teams before the Lions join the Sooner Athletic Conference next season. The game was a classic, and when the evening was over, MACU had grabbed a signature early season win.
MACU (4-2) used a 22-7 outburst in overtime to claim a hard-fought win over the #19 Lions (4-2) 95-80.
Langston scored the first basket of the game on a made 3-pointer from Brian Jenkins, but MACU's Javan Perry answered with a three of his own to tie the score. After a Lions' miss, Zach Sawyer hit a 3-pointer to put MACU up 6-3, and the Evangels led for the rest of the half. The Evangels stretched out their lead in the first half, and with 8:52 remaining, Dominic Ford put MACU up by 11, marking the first time the lead reached double-figures. The Lions cut the margin to five with 4:33 to play in the half, but MACU pushed the margin out to as many as 13 in the first half, and at intermission, the Evangels led 33-23.
Langston came out on fire in the second half. The Lions opened the frame on a 14-4 run to knot the score at 37 apiece, and from there the game took on a back-and-forth tone. In the final 15 minutes of regulation, there were five ties and six lead changes.
In the final minute of regulation, a key sequence at the foul line left two points on the table for the Lions, and the Evangels took full advantage. James Morris, Jr. missed two critical free throws for the Lions, and on the other end of the floor, Jordan Rhodes cashed in a pair of charity tosses to push the Evangels lead to five. Jenkins hit a 3-pointer for Langston with 38 seconds to play, and after a turnover against the full court press, Jenkins struck again, tying the score at 73 with 22 seconds to play. Perry got a decent look at the bucket with the score tied at 73 and no time left on the clock, but it went begging and the game proceeded to overtime.
The extra session was the Therence Mayimba show. Mayimba scored the first five MACU points in overtime, and he helped lead the Evangels on an 11-3 run to open the additional frame. The Evangels outscored the Lions 22-7 in overtime, and MACU claimed the win 95-80.
Mayimba led all scorers with 25 points, and Perry had a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists. Rhodes finished with 17 and a team leading six rebounds, and Cade Upshaw tallied 11 times. Zawyer and Justin Bogle each finished with nine points.
As a team, MACU made 46.7% (29-of-62) shots, 46.4% (13-of-28) 3-pointers, and a whopping 24-of-26 (92.3%) free throws. The Evangels also held advantages of 38-33 on the glass, 16-13 in points off turnovers, 13-10 in second chance points, 28-26 in points in the paint, and 36-19 in bench scoring.
MACU will be back in action on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. when they head across the Natural State to take on the Crowley's Ridge College Pioneers (0-6) in Paragould, Arkansas.
