MCPHERSON, Kan. ? The Mid-America Christian University men's basketball team entered play on Thursday night three games out of first place in the Sooner Athletic Conference, but in sixth place in the standings. At the end of the evening, their standing had not improved, but thanks to a road victory and some craziness elsewhere in the league, they picked up a game on First place as they head toward the stretch run.
MACU (13-8, 7-6 SAC) got a double-double effort from Justin Bogle, and the Evangels limited their turnovers as they completed the season sweep of the Central Christian College Tigers (11-10, 4-9 SAC). Thanks to a pair of double-overtime comeback wins elsewhere in the Conference, MACU is now only two games out of first place in the SAC.
MACU took an early 5-2 lead, but an 8-0 run from the Tigers gave Central Christian a 10-5 lead with just 5:04 elapsed in the game. MACU battled back, though, with consecutive runs of 8-0 to take a 13-12 lead, and 11-2 to stretch their advantage to 26-16 with 7:24 to go. Central Christian whittled the margin down to four at 29-25 with 2:53 left on the clock, and eventually, the Tigers cut the gap to a single bucket at 32-30 with 1:13 to go, but Keyshawn Perkins cashed in a basket with just eight seconds left in the first half, giving MACU a 34-30 lead at the intermission.
In the second half, MACU locked down on the defensive end of the floor, while slowly extending their margin. MACU held CCC without a made field goal for the first 4:48 of the second half, piecing together a 10-2 run in that span to take a 44-32 lead. The Tigers tried to come from behind after that, but the Evangels limited CCC to eight made field goals in the second half and a shooting percentage of 25.8% after halftime, as MACU took the win 74-61.
Bogle became the sixth Evangel to post a double-double this season, scoring a game high 23 points and pulling in 10 rebounds. Jordan Rhodes and Andre Horne added a dozen apiece, and Perkins scored seven while grabbing 10 rebounds and handing out seven assists. MACU made 30-of-66 (45.5%) from the floor, but only 6-of-24 (25%) from long range. At the foul line, MACU also struggled, converting only 8-of-17 (47.1%) free throws.
The Evangels will next take part in a showdown in Oklahoma City on Saturday. MACU will head to Abe Lemons Arena at Oklahoma City University to battle the NAIA #15 Stars (16-5, 9-4 SAC) who are currently locked in a 3-way tie for first in the SAC after OCU took a 114-108 double-overtime win on Thursday night. Tip-off for the game is slated for 3 p.m.
