OKLAHOMA CITY – On a day when the Mid-America Christian University men's basketball program honored one of the teams that laid the foundation for the success of the program, the Evangels showed the mettle of a program that has been built into a perennial contender.
NAIA #22 MACU (7-2, 2-0 SAC) used a 14-2 run midway through the second half to take the lead for good, and their defense held the line from there, as the Evangels out-lasted #12 Oklahoma City University (6-2, 0-1 SAC) 77-70.
Oklahoma City scored first, but MACU bounced back with a 7-0 run to take the early lead. Javan Perry knocked down his fourth 3-pointer of the first half at the 13:02 mark to push the Evangels' lead to 16-6, but Oklahoma City battled to keep it close. The Stars closed the gap to 17-14 with an 8-1 run, and though MACU extended their lead to 12 on a Jordan Rhodes made field goal with 6:47 to play, the Stars whittled the deficit back down to seven at the half, with MACU leading 40-33.
OCU opened the second half on an 11-4 run, knotting the score at 44 with 15:02 left in regulation, and in an odd situation, both teams called timeouts – with OCU spending a 30 second timeout, and MACU taking a full timeout before returning to the floor. The strategy worked for head coach Josh Gamblin and the Evangels, as out of the timeouts, MACU immediately put together a 14-2 run over 3:18 of game time, taking a 58-46 lead with 12:42 to go. OCU scored the next eight points, cutting the deficit to 58-54 with 7:52 remaining, but MACU's Keyshawn Perkins scored four straight points, and the Stars did not get closer than five the rest of the night as MACU held on for the 77-70 win.
Five Evangels scored in double-figures, with Rhodes and Perry each pouring in 17 to tie for the game-high. Perkins, Therence Mayimba, and Justin Bogle each chipped in 11; Zach Sawyer grabbed a team-leading nine boards; and Perkins dished out five helpers. MACU made 27-of-57 (47.4%) shots, including 12-of-31 (38.7%) from long distance. The Evangels did struggle at the foul line, though, making only 11-of-18 (61.1%) charity tosses.
MACU will step out of regular season play on Tuesday night, heading south to Dallas, Texas to take on the Patriots of Dallas Baptist University (7-0) in an exhibition contest. The game is scheduled to tip-off at 7 p.m.
