OKLAHOMA CITY – After picking up a pair of top 25 wins last week, Mid-America Christian men's basketball Head Coach Josh Gamblin was named the HoopDirt.com NAIA Coach of the Week on Tuesday.
The Evangels are coming off a 92-81 victory at No. 19 Texas Wesleyan on Jan. 16 before rallying back from eight down to top No. 22 Southwestern Assemblies of God, 90-86 at the Gaulke Activity Center on Saturday.
In the win at Texas Wesleyan, the Rams were able to rally from a 10-point Evangels lead in the second half to tie the score at 56 with 10:40 remaining. However, MACU dominated down the stretch, going on a 32-15 run to take their largest lead of the game on a Cedric Wright and-one layup to make it an 88-71 game with 2:06 remaining.
SAGU gave the Evangels their toughest test of the season on Saturday, putting MACU down by as much as eight with 4:04 remaining. The Evangels mounted an immediate rally behind a Dominick Ford three-pointer and a pair of Ashford Golden scores to shrink the deficit to three with 2:12 to go. Senior guard D'von Moore made two of the biggest shots of the game on back-to-back possessions, nailing a three to tie before crossing over and splashing a step-back three from the top of the key with 1:02 on the clock to give MACU an 81-78 advantage.
The Lions had a chance to score the go-ahead bucket with less than 10 seconds left, but Golden was able to tightly contest Nykolas Mason's three-point attempt from the left wing and come up with the defensive rebound before sealing the Evangels win from the free throw line with 1.8 seconds left.
Mid-America Christian is one of the last two undefeated teams left in the NAIA, posting a 17-0 record and an 8-0 mark against Sooner Athletic Conference competition.
So far this season, MACU has posted five wins against NAIA Top 25 ranked teams, including No. 11 LSU Shreveport, No. 10 John Brown, No. 9 Wayland Baptist, No. 19 Texas Wesleyan and No. 22 SAGU. The five ranked wins is the most of any program in the NAIA.
The Evangels are currently on their longest winning streak in the NAIA era and are just two wins away from tying the 19-game win streak set by the 2003-04 team that went on to win the NCCAA Division II National Championship.
In the midst of Gamblin's fifth season at the helm, the Evangels have amassed a 104-51 (.671) record, including winning the program's first ever NAIA National Championship in his first season. Gamblin picked up his 100th career win over No. 10 John Brown at the Gaulke Activity Center on Jan. 4 to open a stretch that ended with four wins over ranked opponents in a five-game stretch.
Mid-America Christian will see a familiar face on Thursday night as the Evangels will host Southwestern Christian, led by former MACU Assistant Coach Brandon Rollins. The game is slated for a 7:45 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
