OKLAHOMA CITY - At the beginning of the night, the Mid-America Christian University men's basketball team looked in control of their game with Oklahoma Panhandle State University. By the end of the evening, the Evangels found themselves on the short end of the score.
MACU (12-8, 5-7 SAC) opened the game on a 10-0 run, but OPSU (12-7, 7-6 SAC) rallied to slowly take command, and the Aggies pulled away to the win, 80-71.
MACU came out of the locker room on fire. The Evangels got another early bucket from Zach Sawyer, this time 23 seconds into the game, and they rode that momentum early. Dominick Ford, Sawyer, and Cade Upshaw combined for 10 points in the first 3:24 - with Sawyer scoring six of those points, and MACU found themselves with a quick 10 point lead. The Evangels made seven of their first 10 shots in the contest, but those seven shots all came from inside the arc, and 3-point shooting began to slowly turn the tide. OPSU shot 7-for-15 (46.7%) from long range in the first half, and MACU made only three shots out of 12 (25%) from long range. Coupled with a 7-for-8 performance at the foul line, OPSU was able to overcome MACU's 58% shooting half to take a 42-37 lead into the locker room.
OPSU leading scorer Brieman Alexander got going in the second half, and again, the long range shooting was a key difference between the two teams. The Aggies did not shoot many, but they were able to make key 3-pointers to prevent MACU from making a dent in the margin after an early run pushed it to double digits. On the other end of the floor, MACU struggled from long distance, making only one of 12 attempts from beyond the arc, and OPSU held off a late charge from the Evangels to take the win 80-71.
Charles Beauregard, Jr. led the Evangels with 20 points in the game, and Justin Bogle added 13 points and a team best nine rebounds. Khalil Thompson dished out four assists in the game, and Daniel William had three steals.
MACU shot the ball reasonably well from the floor for the game, making 29 of 68 (42.6%) shots, but the Evangels continued to struggle from deep, connecting on only 4 of 24 (16.7%) 3-pointers in the game.
The Evangels will hit the road on Tuesday to play a weather-postponed game at Oklahoma City University (11-7, 6-6 SAC). The game, which was originally scheduled to be played on January 3, but a snow storm forced the alteration of the schedule. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.
