BELLEVILLE, Ill. – At halftime of their game on Lindenwood University-Belleville on Monday evening, the Mid-America Christian University men's basketball team held the lead, but the momentum was with the Lynx. Lindenwood-Belleville had trimmed a MACU lead that had been as big as 10 points down to a single tally, and the intermission did not slow down the Lynx.
MACU (1-2) had four players in double-figures in the game, but they were decidedly out-rebounded by Lindenwood-Belleville (1-2), and the Lynx pulled away in the second stanza to take a 74-66 win.
MACU opened the game on an 11-1 run and the Evangels appeared to be off and running. Zach Sawyer scored five points in that run, and with 13:54 to play, Jordan Rhodes made two free throws to restore the 10-point margin, but the Lynx began to whittle away. A 7-0 run by the Lynx cut the margin to 13-10 with 11:14 to play in the first half. After the Evangels pushed the lead back to nine on a made 3-pointer from Javan Perry with 9:27 remaining, the Lynx answered with a 14-4 run to take the lead 26-25 with 1:33 to play. Rhodes scored with 1:01 to play, and though the Evangels made a shot at the buzzer in the first half, it came after the buzzer had sounded, and at intermission, MACU clung to a 27-26 lead.
Therence Mayimba scored the first bucket of the second frame, but he missed a free throw that could have made it a three point play, and the Lynx immediately took advantage of the momentum from that free throw miss. Lindenwood-Belleville scored nine straight points to take a 35-29 lead. Cade Upshaw tied the score at 35 with 16:18 to play, but Lindenwood took the lead back on a layup from Shakari Hawkins just 24 seconds later, and that reclaimed the lead for good for the Lynx. MACU closed to within one with 14:14 left, but another 9-0 run from Lindenwood-Belleville pushed the Lynx lead to 10 at 49-39 with 11:06 to play. In the final six minutes, MACU made one final push, closing the gap to three, and then with 2:58 to go, Sawyer connected from long range to trim the margin to a deuce at 61-59. With 1:35 to play, Upshaw again connected from deep to pull MACU with two once more, but the Lynx stretched the margin in the final moments of the game, taking the win 74-66.
Mid-America out-shot Lindenwood by percentage, making 24-of-55 (43.6%) from the floor to only 26-of-68 (38.2%) for the Lynx. MACU also shot a better percentage from long distance (8-for-23, 34.8%) than did the Lynx (9-for-31; 29%), but Lindenwood held the advantage at the foul line, where they made 13-of-17 (76.5%), while the Evangels made only 10-of-19 (52.6%). The Lynx also held a sizeable advantage on the glass, out-rebounding MACU 47-36, including grabbing 17 offensive boards.
Individually, Sawyer led the way for MACU with 13 points, Perry added 11, and Mayimba and Rhodes each chipped in 10. Keyshawn Perkins led the Evangels with 11 rebounds, and Perry added four assists.
The Evangels will return home for a tilt on Thursday evening as a part of a busy week of basketball at the Gaulke Activity Center. The Evangels will host the Northern New Mexico College Eagles (2-4) on Thursday, November 9 at 6 p.m.
