OKLAHOMA CITY- Early on in their game on Friday night, the Mid-America Christian University men's basketball team looked as though they were playing a a duplicate version of their game against JohnBrown University from January 12. The Evangels raced out to an early lead, and they led for much of the first half, but when the dust settled, the Evangels were not able to duplicate that result and their Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament run came to an end.
MACU (20-12) shot the ball well from the field and from long range in the first half, but struggled at the foul line, and in the second half, they made only one of 12 3-point tries, as #18 JBU (23-9) took the win, 70-59.
Jake Caudle got JBU on the board first, but MACU answered with 10 straight points to take a 10-2 lead with 15:48 to play in the opening half. At the 12:22 mark, Britt Hammond scored on the fast break to put MACU up 17-6 and give them their largest lead of the half, but JBU began to whittle away at the deficit, and over the next eight minutes, JBU put together a 21-5 run that halped the Golden Eagles capture the lead and run it all the way to 27-22 before MACU rallied to cut the deficit to a single point on a bucket from Charles Beauregard, Jr. with 3:36 to play. In the final three minutes of the first frame, the defenses dominated, and at the half, JBU hed the slim lead, 31-28.
JBU opened the second half with six straight points, and that got them a modest cushion they enjoyed for much of the final 20 minutes. Mid-America had a chance to tie it at the foul line early in the second half, but the second charite toss from William Gibbons went halfway down before popping out, and JBU immediately took advantage. The Golden Eagles hit three straight 3-pointers to take a 48-38 lead with 10:43 to play, and while MACU battled to try and close the gap, they were unable to string together stops on one end and scores on the other. JBU pushed their lead out to as many as 15 points, and the Golden Eagles took the win 70-59.
Beauregard, Jr. led the Evangels with 15 points in the game, and he was joined in double-figures by Dominick Ford (12) and Anthony Black (10). Beauregard, Jr. and Javan Perry tied for the team lead with five rebounds, and Perry added five assists. Daniel William had three blocked shots as well.
MACU made 22 of 58 (37.9%) shots from the field, but only 5-of-24 (20.8%) from long distance. At the foul line, MACU was 10-for-17 (58.8%) .
MACU will host the NCCAA regional championship for the Central region next week. The schedule will be announced early in the week.
