OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 18 Mid-America Christian men's basketball team was challenged by Texas A&M-Texarkana, but the Evangels were able to hold off a late Eagles comeback to pull away with the 91-85 victory for their third straight win on Monday night at the Gaulke Activity Center.

Mid-America Christian (3-0) led by as much as 15 in the first half and 12 in the second, but Texas A&M-Texarkana (0-1) fought back from both deficits to keep the game close. However, the Evangels made some big defensive stops late in the fourth quarter to prevent the Eagles from getting its first win in their inaugural season.

Junior guard Carlos Slaughter had his best game in an Evangels uniform, leading a balanced scoring effort with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and 3-for-5 from the charity stripe. As a team, the Evangels only had three guys break double figures with seven guys scoring eight or more points.

MACU got off to red hot start, scoring the first 15 points of the contest. The Evangels rattled off five points within the first minute on a Cedric Wright and-one bucket followed by a Tony Dorsey three-pointer just 50 seconds in.

Wright and Dominick Ford combined to score the next 10 points as the Evangels run was capped off on Ford's three-pointer from the wing with 14:29 remaining.

TAMUT found some momentum following an Anthony McGee three-pointer, igniting a 12-2 run over the next three minutes, closed out by another McGee three to make it a 17-12 game with 11:38 remaining in the half.

In the foul-filled game, the Evangels were able to take advantage of the free throw line over a three-minute stretch, converting on 5-of-6 attempts during a 7-1 run, pushing the lead back out to 11 with 8:38 to go.

Texas A&M-Texarkana made one more strong surge to close the gap to three at 31-28 with 3:50 on the clock, but MACU swung back by scoring 12 of the final 19 points. D'Von Moore closed out the half on a high note for the Evangels, making fantastic drive to the bucket for a lay-in with 16 seconds remaining while the defense forced the Eagles to commit a turnover on their final possession with two seconds left to take a 43-35 advantage into the halftime break.

Mid-America Christian continued its trend of red-hot shooting in the first half, going 12-for-20 (60 percent) from the field and knocking down 17-of-23 (74 percent) from the foul line. MACU limited TAMUT to just 38.5 percent from the floor, but three-pointers kept the Eagles in it, as they buried 6-of-15 (40 percent) from the arc.

The Evangels quickly extended the edge to double-figures early in the second half on an Ashford Golden three-point bomb followed by another Wright low-post bucket and free throw, setting the score at 49-37 just 1:34 into the half.

MACU maintained its double-digit lead over the next seven minutes until six unanswered on a pair of buckets by Decorian Phillips along with an Aaron Harmon score trimmed the gap to 69-63 with 10:39 remaining in regulation.

A Terrance Jones bucket and a pair of Moore free throws pushed the lead back to double-digits and the Evangels led by as much as 11 following a Slaughter score to make it 79-68 with 4:57 to play.

The Eagles refused to go away. After TAMUT trimmed the deficit to seven, Calon Woodson buried a crucial three-pointer to extend the lead back to 10, but McGee immediately answered with another triple on the ensuing possession to keep the game at seven, 86-79 with 1:58 to go.

Following a Slaughter layup to extend the MACU lead back to nine, Texarkana put together a serious threat, tallying six of the next seven points to shrink the Evangels lead to 89-85 with 28 seconds left.

Even though a pair of missed MACU free throws gave the Eagles a chance, the Evangels forced TAMUT's Desmond Kennedy into taking a contested three and Ford ripped down the rebound to force a foul.

Ford converted one of two from the foul line with 12 seconds left to stretch the lead to five and Tony Dorsey came up with a crucial steal in the final six seconds to thwart the Eagles threat.

Mid-America Christian outshot Texarkana by a 56.3-to-45 percent margin in the game while converting on 33-of-51 (64.7 percent) from the foul line. However, the Evangels struggled to keep Texarkana off the boards as the Eagles controlled the rebounding margin 39-30, including a 13-6 edge in offensive boards.

Wright turned in a 12-point, eight-rebound effort in just 19 minutes of action while Moore rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the foul line along with three assists. Dorsey turned in a strong performance, tallying nine points and a team-high four assists to go with a game-high three steals.

Mid-America Christian will now hit the road for an exhibition contest at NCAA Division II Drury. The Evangels and Panthers will tip-off at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 1 in Springfield, Missouri.