OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 18 Mid-America Christian men's basketball team caught fire late in the first half and never lifted the foot off the gas pedal as the Evangels cruised to a 104-55 victory over crosstown rival Randall at the Gaulke Activity Center on Saturday to improve to 7-0 on the season.
Redshirt senior forward Cedric Wright led the Evangels with 21 points on 6-of-6 shooting and shot a season-best 9-for-11 from the foul line to go with seven rebounds and a pair of steals. Terrance Jones and D'von Moore once again provided a spark off the MACU bench, scoring a combined 37 points in the win.
Randall (2-5) came out of the gate on-fire, outscoring the Evangels 10-4 in the first 3:06 and built its lead to as large as seven on a Jordan Marshall three-pointer at the 14:29 mark to make it a 15-8 game.
Jones almost single-handedly got MACU back into the game, scoring six of the Evangels' nine points during a 9-0 run to give the Evangels the 17-15 edge over the Saints with 11:18 to go in the half.
The two squads traded the lead five times over the next six minutes before a pair of Wright free throws ignited yet another nine unanswered streak, extending the MACU lead to 44-34 with 4:04 remaining.
Mid-America Christian had a strong finish in the first half as Jones notched a pair of layups and the Evangels forced two Saints turnovers in the final minute to head into the locker room with a 52-39 advantage.
The Evangels clicked on all facets of the offensive end in the opening half, shooting 16-for-32 (50 percent) from the floor, 4-for-9 (44.4 percent) from the three-point arc and knocked down 16-for-19 (84.2 percent) from the charity stripe.
MACU started to put the game away early on in the second half, scoring eight unanswered in the first 4:29 that started an incredible 19-3 run. Tony Dorsey drained a three from the top of the key to cap the run, stretching MACU's advantage to 71-42 with 11:45 left.
The Saints struggled to score against the Evangels ferocious defense in the second half as MACU built its lead to as large as 49 on a Damarius Brooks fastbreak layup, setting the score to 100-51 with 3:23 remaining.
Mid-America Christian held Randall to just 6-for-36 (16.7 percent) from the floor and 2-for-15 (13.3 percent) from three in the second half while remaining red hot on the offensive end, notching 20-for-36 (55.6 percent) from the field and 4-for-10 (40 percent) from three in the second 20 minutes of action.
Five Evangels scored in double-figures as Jones tallied his 19 points on 9-of-12 from the field to go along with six boards. Moore continued to stay blistering hot from beyond the arc with his 18 points coming on 4-of-7 from three and along with 4-of-6 from the foul line.
Dominick Ford led the MACU rebounding efforts with eight boards to go with 12 points while Dorsey rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10.
With their seventh win, the Evangels are just one win away from tying the program's NAIA era win streak record that was set by the 2015-16 NAIA National Championship team. MACU will get the chance to tie the mark at home on Thursday, Nov. 21 as the Evangels will host Langston University in their Sooner Athletic Conference opener.
