OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 2 Mid-America Christian men's basketball team will close out the first half of Sooner Athletic Conference play at home on Thursday, Jan. 23, taking on Southwestern Christian at 7:45 p.m. before traveling north to take on crosstown rival Oklahoma City at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 25.
LAST TIME OUT
Mid-America Christian (17-0, 8-0 SAC) wrapped up its toughest stretch of the season last week with a 92-81 win at No. 19 Texas Wesleyan on Jan. 16 before coming away with a 90-86 win in its biggest challenge of the season against No. 22 Southwestern Assemblies of God on Saturday.
In the win over the Rams, the Evangels pulled away from a 56-all deadlock in the second half with 10:40 to go. MACU strung together a 32-15 run, capped off on a Cedric Wright and-one to take its largest lead of the game at 88-71 with 2:06 left. Wright paved the way for MACU, leading five players in double-figures with 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting and 6-of-6 from the foul line to go with 10 rebounds.
MACU faced its biggest hurdle of the season on Saturday when SAGU took an eight-point lead with 4:04 left. The Evangels stormed back as a Dominick Ford three and a pair of Ashford Golden scores closed the gap to 78-75 with 2:02 on the clock. After forcing back-to-back turnovers, D'von Moore came up with two of the biggest shots in the game, nailing the game-tying three at 1:26 and the go-ahead triple with 1:02 remaining to capture an 81-78 advantage.
The Lions were able to keep it to a one-possession game and had the opportunity to score the go-ahead bucket on the final possession of the game, but Golden tightly contested Nykolas Mason's three-point attempt and came up with the defensive rebound, ultimately sealing the game with a pair of made free throws with 1.8 seconds left to keep the Evangels unbeaten. Golden led the way with 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting and 11 rebounds.
SCOUTING THE EAGLES
The Evangels will see a familiar face on the other sideline on Saturday as Southwestern Christian is led by first year Head Coach Brandon Rollins, a former three-year assistant and one-year Associate Head Coach at MACU alongside Josh Gamblin. SCU comes into the matchup after posting a 10-6 overall record and a 3-5 mark in SAC play.
Last week, the Eagles dropped an 85-65 matchup at Oklahoma City on Jan. 14 before following it up with a hard-fought 98-91 loss at home to No. 10 John Brown on Jan. 18. SCU wrapped up the week with an 81-75 bounce back home win over Bacone College on Saturday.
Southwestern Christian currently boasts the second-best free throw percentage in the NAIA at 78.5 percent as well as the second-best three-point shooting defense, allowing its opponents to shoot just 28.5 percent from beyond the arc.
The Eagles are led both offensively and on the glass by junior forward Derek Dantzler-Fulner, averaging 15.7 points per game while shooting 50 percent from the field, 42.4 percent from three and 88.2 percent from the foul line while ripping down 8.1 rebounds per game. Junior guard Khristien White will be the focal point of the offense, averaging 12.2 ppg while distributing a team-leading 41 assists. Senior guard Darius Madkin is a stalwart on the offensive and defensive fronts, averaging 14.5 ppg with a team-leading 21 steals.
HISTORY WITH THE EAGLES
Mid-America Christian holds a 9-7 edge over Southwestern Christian in the NAIA era. Last season, the Evangels snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Eagles on Feb. 21, 2019, pulling out a 76-66 victory in Bethany, Okla. after SCU stunned the Evangels in the Gaulke Activity Center, 61-58 on Jan. 5, 2019.
SCOUTING THE STARS
Oklahoma City enters its Thursday night matchup at Science & Arts with a 10-7 record and have posted a 3-5 record against SAC competition. The Stars are coming off one of their best weeks of the season, picking up an 85-65 win at home over Southwestern Christian on Jan. 14 before dominating Bacone College 106-66 on Jan. 16. On Saturday, the Stars gave No. 10 John Brown one of its toughest tests of the season, forcing the Golden Eagles to overtime before eventually falling 92-86 in the extra session.
The Stars are a stalwart defense on the perimeter, limiting their opponents to an NAIA-best 28.1 percent shooting from the three-point arc while possessing the third-best scoring defense in the Sooner Athletic Conference at 71.9 ppg.
Leading the OCU scoring efforts during the 2020 portion of the schedule is senior guard Trae Bryant. After missing the 2019 section of the year, Bryant has led the Stars in the last seven games with a 15.1 ppg scoring average on 52.1 percent shooting from the field and knocked down 25-for-48 (52.1 percent) from the three-point arc.
Senior forward Anthony Davis is the team's best rebounder, ripping down 5.7 rpg while ranking second on the team in scoring at 12.8 ppg. Junior guard Rashaun Coleman has been the team's catalyst on offense, not only averaging 12.6 ppg, but also leading the SAC with 70 assists and is the team's best defender with 24 steals.
HISTORY WITH THE STARS
While Oklahoma City holds a slight 14-12 edge in the series during the NAIA era, Mid-America Christian will look to build a little momentum after snapping a three-game losing streak on Feb. 23, 2019 with an 80-70 victory at the Gaulke Activity Center.
THE FORD FACTOR
While not always a player that will score in bunches, junior forward Dominick Ford has stepped up on the offensive end as of late. Last week, the McKinney, Texas product scored 10 points on an efficient 4-for-6 from the field and 2-for-3 from the arc to go with eight rebounds in the win at No. 19 Texas Wesleyan. Ford was even more effective in the win against No. 22 SAGU, recording his second double-double of the season with 14 points on 5-of-10 from the field and 4-of-7 from beyond the arc while ripping down 10 rebounds. It was Ford's first double-double since posting 15 points and 11 boards in a 103-89 victory over No. 11 LSU Shreveport on Nov. 7.
NINETEEN IN-SIGHT
The Mid-America Christian men's basketball team will look to catch another program win streak record after breaking the NAIA era (2007-present) record of eight straight wins set by the 2015-16 NAIA National Championship team. Currently on a 17-game win streak, the Evangels will be hoping to tie the program's longest documented win streak of 19 straight set by the 2004 NCCAA Division II National Championship team. In that season after MACU dropped a 90-84 loss at Oklahoma Wesleyan on Jan. 13, 2004 to fall to 11-7 on the year, the Evangels rattled off 19 consecutive wins, capping off the run with a 69-64 victory in the NCCAA Division II National Championship game against Central Bible College (Mo.), now known as Evangel University.
