ESPANOLA, N.M. – Competing in its second straight road game, the No. 18 Mid-America Christian men's basketball team picked up right where it left off on Tuesday night with a strong 89-75 road victory at Northern New Mexico College.

Mid-America Christian (6-0) is off to its best start in the NAIA era, but it didn't come without a challenge from Northern New Mexico (1-6) as the Eagles were able to fight back from a pair of double-digit deficits. A strong start to the second half followed by a strong finish on the defensive end allowed the Evangels to pull away late with the win.

D'Von Moore led five Evangels into double-figures with 17 points, 14 of which came in the second half on 4-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. Ashford Golden also poured in 17 points, while Cedric Wright and Terrance Jones were tough to stop in the low post with 14 and 13 points respective with each going 5-for-7 from the field.

The Evangels and Eagles went back-and-forth through the first eight minutes with neither team claiming more than a three-point lead.

With MACU trailing 19-18 With 11:33 to go, Golden jumpstarted a big Evangels run with a three-pointer from the top of a key on a nice dish from Damarius Brooks driving the baseline. The bucket started a 14-0 MACU run, capped off on a Dominick Ford free throw with 8:40 remaining to make it a 32-19 MACU advantage.

Mid-America Christian went cold from the field in the final 6:46 of the half, scoring just two points as the Eagles closed out the half with a 13-2 run, knocking down a three-pointer at the buzzer to cut the MACU lead to just one at 39-38 heading into the break.

The Evangels responded with a strong start in the second half, as a Dominick Ford triple to open the period ignited a 14-6 run, finished off on a Golden three from the right wing to extend the MACU edge to 53-44 just three minutes in.

Maintaining a 10-point edge with 13:01 left, Moore caught fire from beyond the arc as he buried a long triple from the right wing to start another 8-2 surge followed by a Golden layup and Moore capped the run with another three from the right wing to extend the Evangels lead 64-48 with 11:37 remaining.

Moore gave MACU its largest lead of the contest with 8:57 to go when Terrance Jones found him in the left corner for an open three-pointer, expanding the advantage to 71-53.

However, Northern New Mexico managed to claw its way back, shrinking the gap to single digits off of three free throws from NNMC's Estevan Martinez to make it an 81-72 game with 3:12 remaining.

However, the Evangels defense clamped down on the Eagles over the final three minutes, giving up just three points while Jones came up with big lay-ins on back-to-back possessions to allow MACU to come away with the 89-75 victory.

Mid-America Christian finished the game by converting on 28-of-61 (45.9 percent) from the field, 9-for-22 (40.9 percent) from three and knocked down 24-for-35 (68.6 percent) from the free throw line. The difference in the game was once again the Evangels defense, limiting the Eagles to just a 35.6 percent shooting percentage while forcing NNMC into committing 16 turnovers while MACU finished with just nine. Ford led the Evangels rebounding and passing efforts with seven rebounds and five assists.

MACU will return home on Saturday, Nov. 16 to face Randall for the second time in a week. The Evangels will seek another win over the Saints as tip-off is slated for 3 p.m. at the Gaulke Activity Center.