GOODWELL, Okla. – The No. 3 Mid-America Christian men's basketball team controlled the pace from start to finish as the Evangels picked up a 79-56 victory at Oklahoma Panhandle State on Saturday for its first win in Goodwell since both teams moved to the NAIA level.
Mid-America Christian (15-0, 6-0 Sooner Athletic Conference) never trailed after Cedric Wright converted a three-point play on the first possession of the game just 18 seconds in. It was MACU's first win in the Oscar Williams Fieldhouse since Oklahoma Panhandle State (3-10, 0-6 SAC) joined the conference prior to the start of the 2017-18 season.
For the second straight game, Terrance Jones led the MACU offense off the bench, tallying 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting to go with six rebounds and a pair of steals while Damarius Brooks added 13 points on 5-for-9 from the field and 3-of-4 from the three-point arc in his first start with the Evangels.
MACU set the tone early, jumping out to an 8-1 lead just 1:38 in with Wright scoring five points in-between a Brooks triple.
Panhandle State knocked down a pair of threes to close the gap to 8-7 with 16:09 left in the half, but both teams clamped down on the defensive end over the next several minutes as neither team could muster a score until Marvin Lowe notched his first bucket on a lay-in three-point play with 12:45 on the clock.
Lowe's score ignited MACU as the Evangels rattled off 11 unanswered, capped off on a pair of Jones floating jumpers in the paint on back-to-back possessions to extend the advantage to 19-7 with 10:08 remaining.
Following a bucket by OPSU's Brett Williams, the Evangels caught fire from beyond the three-point arc as D'von Moore and Brooks combined to knock down three-straight triples to stretch the lead to 28-9 with 7:55 left.
MACU built its lead to as much as 25 following an 8-0 run as Ashford Golden buried long threes on consecutive possessions, making it a 41-16 game with 1:45 to go.
OPSU started to find an offensive rhythm in the final 1:16, scoring six of the next 10 points which included a Jalen Williams bucket on the final possession of the half to bring the score to 45-23 at the break.
In the first 20 minutes of action, the Evangels went 18-for-33 (54.6 percent) from the floor and 7-of-12 (58.3 percent) from the three-point arc while holding the Aggies to just 12-of-32 (37.5 percent) shooting and 3-for-11 (27.8 percent) from three.
Mid-America Christian never led by less than 21 the rest of the way as a Carlos Slaughter score with 2:35 remaining gave the Evangels its largest advantage of the game at 76-47 before closing out with the 79-56 win.
MACU shot 33-for-65 (50.8 percent) from the field and 9-of-20 (45 percent) from three while limiting the Aggies to just 20-of-58 (37.5 percent) on their shots and 10-for-30 (33.3 percent) from the arc.
It was the fourth straight game that the Evangels held their opponent to less than 40 percent shooting while limiting their opponent to less than 60 points for the third straight game.
Lowe joined Jones and Brooks in double-figures with 11 points on 5-of-9 from the field and a team-high four assists off the bench while Golden rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Mid-America Christian will now prepare to face its third ranked opponent in the last four games as the Evangels will head to Fort Worth, Texas on Thursday, Jan. 16 for a 7:45 p.m. matchup against No. 22 Texas Wesleyan.
