WINONA LAKE, Ind. – The Mid-America Christian University men's basketball team did something on Friday evening that few teams are able to do each season. The Evangels finished their 2017-18 season with a victory.
MACU (21-14) fell behind the Life Pacific College Warriors (15-13), but once the Evangels got rolling, the Evangels controlled the game, taking a 76-62 win.
LPC built an early 13-7 lead with 15:10 to play in the first half, but MACU quickly closed the gap. The Evangels scored five straight points to pull within one at 13-12, and the Evangels eventually drew level at 20-20 on the first of two free throws by Andre Horne at the 9:06 mark of the first half. Horne sank the second one as well, and MACU surged in front as a part of a 9-0 run that gave the Evangels a 26-20 lead. LPC closed to within three at 29-26 with 6:22 to play, but the Horne answered immediately with back-to-back 3-pointers and the Evangels led comfortably for the rest of the half, and they took a 45-36 lead into the locker room at the half.
After LPC scored the first two points of the second half just 11 seconds into the second half, MACU scored 10 consecutive tallies to grab a 55-38 lead just 4:07 into the second stanza. LPC began to whittle away at the margin, and with 11:08 to play the Warriors cut the margin to 10 at 57-47. In the final minutes of the game, LPC twice got the deficit to seven, but MACU prevented them from drawing any closer, and MACU pulled away late to the 76-62 victory.
Horne led the Evangels, and tied for the lead among all scorers, with 17 points in his final collegiate game, and Chinua Massena added a dozen in his last game. Javan Perry tallied 13 points and Justin Bogle added 10 as the Evangels had four in double figures. Jordan Rhodes chipped in nine tallies as he wrapped up his MACU career as well.
The Evangels made 26-of-52 (50%) shots in the game, including 8-of-22 (36.4%) from beyond the arc. At the charity stripe MACU was 16-for-22 (72.7%). The Evangels held a sizeable advantage in scoring off the bench, out-pacing the Warriors 28-19.
The victory ends the Evangels third season under head coach Josh Gamblin, and it marks the second 20-win campaign the Evangels have enjoyed under his guideance. In addition to Horne, Massena, and Rhodes, the careers of Keyshawn Perkins, Marcus McQueen, and Jordan Johnson also come to a close.
