OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 2 Mid-America Christian men's basketball team will be facing its fourth NAIA Top 25 opponent in the last five games as the Evangels take on a pair of nationally ranked teams this week. MACU will start the weekend in Fort Worth, Texas on Thursday, Jan. 16 for a 7:45 p.m. matchup with No. 19 Texas Wesleyan before heading home for a 3:45 p.m. tip against No. 22 Southwestern Assemblies of God on Saturday, Jan. 18.
LAST TIME OUT
Mid-America Christian (15-0, 6-0 Sooner Athletic Conference) picked up its third win over an NAIA Top 25 opponent last Thursday, as the Evangels rallied from a six-point halftime deficit to top No. 9 Wayland Baptist, 73-58. The 23 points scored in the first half by the Evangels was the fewest they've scored in a single half all season, but MACU made some great halftime adjustments to outscore the Pioneers 50-29 in the second half. It was the Evangels' first win at Wayland Baptist since the 2012-13 season as MACU's last win in Plainview came on Feb. 2, 2013 by a score of 80-70.
The Evangels followed it up by getting their first win at Oklahoma Panhandle State in the NAIA era, cruising to a 79-56 victory on Saturday. MACU was balanced across the board as five players scored nine or more points while Terrance Moore and Marvin Lowe came off the bench to score 15 and 11 points respectively.
SCOUTING THE RAMS
Climbing to No. 19 in the latest NAIA Top 25 Poll, Texas Wesleyan enters Thursday's matchup with a 12-3 overall record and a 5-1 mark against SAC competition. The Rams are coming off a pair of hard-fought wins last week, as TWU held off a late Oklahoma City rally for an 83-80 road win against the Stars on Thursday. The Rams were challenged by a Southwestern Christian squad led by former MACU assistant coach Brandon Rollins on Saturday, but Texas Wesleyan was able to pull away late in the second half to come away with the 97-87 home win.
Posing the ninth-best scoring offense in the NAIA, the Rams have six players averaging 9.9 points per game or more. Leading the squad is senior guard Sam Lorenzen with a 15.6 ppg scoring clip on 48.8 percent shooting. Lorenzen is the top three-point shooter in the Sooner Athletic Conference, knocking down 53-of-115 (46.1 percent) from beyond the arc.
Junior forward Akeem White is the squad's leading rebounder and second-leading scorer, ripping down 6.3 rpg to go with 14.7 ppg on the league's fourth-best shooting percentage at 56.6. Junior guard Davon Perry and senior guard Joe Cook-Green command the squad's offense notching 54 and 52 assists respectively.
HISTORY WITH THE RAMS
Even though Mid-America Christian holds a slight 7-6 edge in the series, the Evangels will look to snap a three-game losing streak to the Rams. In last season's meetings, MACU dropped a 78-69 matchup in Fort Worth on Dec. 15, 2018 before falling to TWU in the Gaulke Activity Center on Jan. 31, 2019. However, the Evangels last win over the Rams came on the road in a 77-71 affair on Dec. 16, 2017.
SCOUTING THE LIONS
No. 22 Southwestern Assemblies of God climbed into the NAIA Top 25 this week after picking up a pair of wins at Southwestern Christian (93-86) on Thursday before returning to Waxahachie, Texas for an 83-73 win over Oklahoma City on Saturday. The Lions enter their Thursday night matchup with Science & Arts with a 12-2 record and a 4-2 mark in conference play. SAGU has been on a roll as of late, winning six straight with its last loss coming 103-97 home barn burner on Dec. 3 to Texas Wesleyan.
Leading the 10th-best shooting team in the nation is sophomore guard Nykolas Mason, who poses the second-best scoring average in the Sooner Athletic Conference at 19.8 ppg. Knocking down 64.9 percent of his shots, Mason ranks second in the SAC, only behind MACU's Cedric Wright at 71 percent. Junior guard Joshua Kashila also poses a major threat on the offensive end, as his 18.2 ppg scoring average ranks third in the league while dishing out a team-high 35 assists to go with a squad-leading 19 steals.
Senior forward Kentton Williams is an efficient scorer the third-best shooting percentage in the SAC at 57.1 percent, averaging 14 points per game while leading the squad in rebounding at 6.8 rpg.
HISTORY WITH THE LIONS
Mid-America Christian holds an 11-7 edge over SAGU in the series since the beginning of the NAIA era (2007-08) and swept the season series last year. The Evangels took care of business on their home court Dec. 13, 2018 with a decisive 81-65 victory before coming away with a 73-60 win in Waxahachie, Texas on Feb. 2, 2019.
HOW MUCH DO YOU BENCH?
The Evangels have had steady bench production all season, but it never rang truer than in their road swing at Wayland Baptist and Oklahoma Panhandle State last week. In the win over the Pioneers, MACU held a 33-22 scoring edge off the bench as junior guard Terrance Jones and senior guard D'von Moore led the way with 14 points apiece. The bench scoring was even more emphatic in the win over the Aggies, as the Evangels outscored OPSU 40-13 in bench production. Jones once again led all MACU scorers with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting while Marvin Lowe chipped in 11 on 5-of-9 from the field while dishing out a team-high four assists.
RANKING MEMBER
The Mid-America Christian men's basketball team has really had to earn its No. 2 ranking thus far in 2020 as the Evangels will be playing their third and fourth ranked opponents in the last five contests. The Evangels started the stretch with an impressive 73-59 home victory over No. 10 John Brown on Jan. 4 before following it up with the road win at No. 9 Wayland Baptist last week. The Evangels faced just one ranked opponent during the 2019 portion of the schedule in No. 11 LSU Shreveport on Nov. 7, but came away with a 103-89 victory at the Gaulke Activity Center. The Evangels have elevated their play in their three ranked wins, as MACU is outscoring its opponent by 14.3 ppg.
TAILOR-MADE TOTS
On Saturday, Mid-America Christian will be hosting a pair of halftime performances by Teams of Tomorrow (TOT). Approximately 80 pre-school children will be performing ball handling skills at halftime of both the women's and men's games.
