OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 18 Mid-America Christian men's basketball team opened the new season with a pair of strong performances, topping Eccelsia College 107-73 on Friday night before taking down Manhattan Christian College 112-67 on Saturday.

In the win over Ecclesia, the Evangels got off to a fast start by shooting a blistering 56.1 percent in the opening half that was highlighted by a Dominick Ford three-point buzzer beater from right wing, giving MACU the 57-40 lead heading into the half.

Mid-America Christian picked up right where it left off in the second half as the Evangels outshot the Royals 54.5 percent to 27.5 to pull away with the 34-point victory.

In his MACU debut, senior forward Cedric Wright was nearly unstoppable, scoring a team-high 26 points on 12-of-13 from the floor to go with a game-high nine rebounds and three steals. Junior guard Terrance Jones also played well in his first game with the Evangels, tallying 15 points and eight rebounds off the bench while D'Von Moore scored his 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting, 3-of-7 from the three-point arc along with a team-high four assists.

The Evangels picked right up where they left off against Manhattan Christian on Saturday, recording 65 points in the opening half to take a 65-39 lead into the break. Mid-America Christian hardly missed from anywhere on the floor, gunning for a season-best 24-for-36 (66.7 percent) shooting and went 8-of-14 (57.1 percent) from the three-point arc.

Mid-America Christian cooled off in the second half, but not by much as the Evangels still shot a red-hot 54.3 percent from the field compared to just 32.3 percent for the Thunder.

Ashford Golden led the MACU scoring efforts with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe to go with six rebounds and four assists in just 17 minutes of action. He led five Evangels in double-figures as Wright recorded another strong offensive game with 16 points, going 7-of-12 from the floor while Jones chipped in 14 points while making 8-of-9 from the foul line to go with seven boards in his first start.

Mid-America Christian will have another short turnaround as the Evangels will host their third game in four days on Monday, Oct. 28 with a 7 p.m. tilt with Texas A&M-Texarkana in the Gaulke Activity Center.