OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian University men's basketball faced a very athletic Northern New Mexico College squad on Thursday evening in the second game of a classic spread out over four days. The Eagles had played on Wednesday night, while the Evangels rested, and MACU took full advantage, cruising to the big win.
Mid-America (2-2) took control midway through the first half, and they never looked back, taking a dominating win from Northern New Mexico (2-7) 94-68.
The game started with the teams battling closely, but a 13-0 MACU run which spanned nearly six minutes in the middle stages of the first half pushed the Evangels' lead to 20-6 with 9:23 to play in the half. The Eagles cut the margin to six with 6:12 remaining in the half, but the Evangels out-scored NNMC 21-12 over the final moments of the period, taking a 47-32 lead into the locker room. MACU opened the second stanza on a 10-3 run to push their lead to 22, and the gap was never less than 19 again. MACU led by as many as 29 in the game, taking the 94-68 win.
Jordan Rhodes led the Evangels with 19 points in the game, and three other MACU players joined him in double figures. Justin Bogle scored 14 points in the win, Javan Perry added 13, and Zach Sawyer chipped in a dozen. Rhodes narrowly missed a double-double, grabbing nine rebounds in the game to lead MACU on the glass, where they out-rebounded NNMC 43-41. Keyshawn Perkins and Calon Woodson each had four assists in the game as well.
As a team, MACU made 29-of-59 (49.2%) shots, including 11-of-28 (39.3%) from beyond the arc. The Evangels started the game 0-4 from the foul line, but they recovered to shoot 71.4% (25-of-35) for the game. MACU held advantages in all five enhanced scoring breakdowns, but their biggest edge came in points off turnovers where they out-scored NNMC 27-7.
The Evangels will be off on Friday, and then they will return to the court on Saturday afternoon to take on the Ecclesia College Royals (0-3). The Royals will battle Oklahoma City University on Friday evening, before taking on the Evangels on Saturday at 3 p.m.
