GOODWELL, Okla. – Playing away from home for the first time in the 2018-19 season, the Mid-America Christian University men's basketball team battled furiously to get back into their game at Oklahoma Panhandle State University. The Evangels struggled to keep the game close as their perimeter shooting scuffled for much of the evening, and MACU dropped their second game of the season.
MACU (5-2, 0-1 SAC) made only five 3-pointers in the game, and while the Evangels held the OPSU (6-1, 1-0 SAC) offense in check, the Evangels were stuck in neutral for much of the night, falling 74-64 in their Sooner Athletic Conference opener.
MACU opened the night by scoring seven of the first nine points. Charles Beauregard, Jr. buried a 3-pointer on the Evangels' first possession, and Anthony Black and Daniel William followed up with made jumpers as MACU took a 7-2 lead just 2:26 into the game. After OPSU tied the game, Tony Kumanovic knocked down a long range shot to give MACU the 10-7 lead, and the Evangels led until the 13-minute mark. OPSU put together a 10-0 run to take a 19-12 lead, but MACU rallied with a 9-0 spurt to re-claim the lead at 21-19. A layup from William with 7:12 remaining, but an 8-0 run from OPSU claimed the Aggies the lead for the duration of the half, and at the intermission, OPSU led 37-32.
OPSU began to put the game away early in the second half. The Aggies opened the second stanza on a 16-3 run, during which time, MACU went 1-for-9 from the floor and 0-for-4 from deep. The Aggies lead swelled to as many as 17 in the second half, but MACU began to chip away in the final 10 minutes. A 9-2 MACU run cut the deficit to 10 at 63-53 with 5:17 remaining in the game, and after the Aggies pushed the margin back to 13 with a 3-pointer at the 3:40 mark. In the final three minutes, MACU closed the gap to six on a 3-pointer from Black and a jumper from Justin Bogle, but that was as close as MACU could get, as OPSU took the win 74-64.
Black led the Evangels with 21 points in the game, and William posted a team-leading 11 rebounds. William also added four assists. MACU made 20-of-61 (32.8%) shots in the game, but only 5-of-28 (17.9%) from long range. MACU did shoot well at the foul line, making 19-of-23 (82.6%) from the charity stripe.
The road does not get easier for MACU on Saturday, as the Evangels will wrap up the western trip with a trip to NAIA #20 Wayland Baptist University to take on the Pioneers (6-2, 1-0 SAC) at 3 p.m.
