OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 18 Mid-America Christian men's basketball team faced its first big test of the season, but pulled away from No. 11 LSU Shreveport by scoring 70 second half points on Thursday night for a 103-89 victory at the Gaulke Activity Center.
Going up against its first NAIA Top 25 opponent of the season, Mid-America Christian (4-0) knocked down 20-of-30 (66.7 percent) from the field, 4-for-9 (44.4 percent) from the three-point arc and converted 26-of-32 (81.3 percent) from the foul line complete a dominant second after being tied 33-all at the half.
Junior guard Terrance Jones scored a season-high 23 points on 8-of-13 from the field and 6-of-8 from the charity stripe to go with seven boards while Ashford Golden put together another monster game with 23 points, going a perfect 10-for-10 from the foul line along with eight rebounds and three assists.
LSU Shreveport (4-1) held the momentum early in the first half, jumping out to a 19-9 lead with 12:27 remaining after LSUS's Kadavion Evans scored off a lob pass, prompting MACU head coach Josh Gamblin to call a timeout.
Coming out of the break, Jones single handedly ignited an Evangels rally with a three-point play on the ensuing possession, tallying eight of MACU's points during a 10-0 run to tie the game up at 19 with 9:19 remaining.
The lead traded placed five more time before Jones converted another bucket at the 5:28 mark to make it a 28-26 Evangels edge.
MACU built the edge to as much as three at 32-29 with 2:33 left on a pair of Golden free throws. However, LSU Shreveport once again fought back to tie the score at 33 with 1:10 remaining.
Both teams clamped down on the defensive end in the final 70 seconds with neither team scoring, sending the teams into the locker room with a 33-all tie at the half.
The Pilots outshot the Evangels by a 40.6 to 32.3 percent differential in the opening half, but MACU was able to be aggressive and take advantage from the foul line, converting on 10-of-14 attempts while LSUS only shot 2-of-3 from the line.
LSUS once again got off to a fast start in the second half, taking a three-point advantage at 43-40 just 3:11 into the second half. Mid-America Christian once again found its stride when a Tony Dorsey knocked down a three-pointer that tied the game, starting another string of 10 unanswered capped off on a Cedric Wright and-one with 14:02 to go, making it a 50-43 MACU lead.
The Evangels were able to claim their first double-digit lead of the contest with 10:57 remaining following scores by Marvin Lowe and Damarius Brooks to set the score at 53-43, but the Pilots clawed their way back to make it a five-point game at 61-56 with 8:26 remaining.
MACU retaliated with back-to-back buckets by Golden, one being a three from the top of the key to push the advantage back to 10.
Mid-America Christian was maintaining a nine-point lead with just under four minutes to go when the Evangels were able to put the Pilots into a tough position with a 9-0 run within an 18 second stretch. After Dominick Ford buried a three-pointer to extend the lead to 12, the Evangels came up with a quick defensive stop and Jones was able to draw a foul that incurred a technical for flopping. Dorsey made the technical and Jones converted one of two to stretch the lead to 83-69. Five seconds later, two more technical fouls were called on LSUS, resulting in four Golden free throws to give MACU its largest lead at 87-69 with 3:04 remaining.
LSU Shreveport was able to trim the MACU lead to 11, but could climb no closer as the Evangels held on for the 103-89 victory.
Mid-America Christian finished the game by shooting 31-of-64 (48.4 percent) from the field and 36-for-46 (78.3 percent) from the free throw line. Ford recorded his first double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds while Wright rounded out the Evangels double-figure scoring with 15 points and seven boards.
The Evangels will have a short turnaround as they will play their first true road game of the season on Saturday. However, Mid-America Christian will not have to go far as they will take on crosstown rival Randall with a 1 p.m. tip-off.
