OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian men's basketball team faced a stiff test against Oklahoma City on Saturday at Abe Lemons Arena, but the Evangels were able to pull away in the second half to pick up an 89-75 victory, their 19th straight on the season.
The 19-game win streak for Mid-America Christian (19-0, 10-0 Sooner Athletic Conference) tied the longest streak since 2003-04 season. During that campaign, the Evangels rattled off 19 in a row after starting the year 11-7, culminating in an NCCAA Division II National Championship win.
Tony Dorsey led the Evangels with 19 points, knocking down 5-for-10 from the field, including 4-for-6 from the three-point arc and 5-of-7 from the charity stripe.
In the early going, a pair of Dominick Ford three-pointers allowed MACU to jump out to an 8-4 lead over Oklahoma City (10-9, 3-7 SAC), but the Stars found their stride by rattling off 10 answered over a 3:06 stretch to hold a 14-8 edge with 12:58 to go.
MACU's Ashford Golden was able to snap the slump with a jumper in the paint at the 11:37 mark, but back-to-back threes by the Stars' Eddie Smith gave OCU its largest advantage of the game at 20-10 with 10:01 to play.
Following a timeout, the Evangels finally started to get into an offensive rhythm as a Terrance Jones layup, a Damarius Brooks three from the right wing and a free throw by D'von Moore shrank the deficit to four with just over eight minutes to go.
However, the Stars were able to put a stop to the run and build their advantage back up to as much as eight at 33-25 on an A.J. Cockrell layup with 3:30 left until the half.
On the ensuing possession, Golden fired up the MACU offensive attack with a three and after blocking a shot and gathering the defensive rebound, Carlos Slaughter found Dorsey for another Evangels three to cut the deficit to 33-31 with 2:53 to go.
A Cockrell free throw slowed the run, but Dorsey once again tied the game on a triple from the right corner while Golden sank a pair of free throws on the following offensive possession to give MACU a 36-34 edge with 1:33 on the clock, its first lead since the 15:52 mark.
OCU's Rashaun Coleman converted a three-point play on the other end to quickly put OCU back in-front, but on MACU's final offensive possession of the half, Dorsey nailed his third three-pointer from the top of the key after curling off a Jones screen to give the Evangels a 39-37 lead heading into the halftime break.
Both teams shot an even 13-for-30 (43.3 percent) in the opening half, but the Evangels converted 8-for-17 (47.1 percent) from beyond the arc while OCU was just 4-for-9 (44.4 percent).
Mid-America Christian was able to build its advantage to seven through the first two minutes of the second half, but the Stars found their stride by scoring the next seven to tie the score at 44-all at the 16:47 mark.
The next five minutes were a back-and-forth battle that saw five lead changes and two ties, it was Moore that turned the tide.
After momentarily putting MACU ahead with a three before a Darrien Willies score gave OCU the lead back, Moore nailed two more threes on back-to-back possessions to extend the Evangels' edge to 58-53 with 10:33 remaining. Scoring just one point in the previous 29 minutes, Moore scored nine points in the 1:06 stretch.
Mid-America Christian continued its surge following an OCU free throw as two strong Jones layups stretched the MACU advantage to 62-54 with just over nine minutes left.
Oklahoma City was able to eventually chip the Evangels lead down to three at 66-63 with 7:08 to go on an Anthony Davis three-point play, but that would be the closest the Stars would come throughout the rest of the contest.
The Evangels were able to slowly pull away from the Stars over the final seven minutes, but MACU put the final dagger into OCU's chances with 1:21 left. Leading by six, Dorsey drained his fourth three-pointer of the game from the top of the key, starting a run of six straight points as a Dorsey free throw with 48 seconds to go made it an 84-72 game.
The Stars' Eric Wattree was able to get it back to single-digits with a three on the following possession, but the Evangels went 5-for-6 from the foul line down the stretch to seal the 89-75 win.
Mid-America Christian shot 50 percent from the field and from three in the second half to finish 27-for-58 (46.6 percent) from the field and 12-of-25 (48 percent) from three for the game, while limiting the Stars to just 40 percent from the floor and 23.1 percent from three in the final 20 minutes.
Five Evangels scored in double-figures, as Golden and Moore joined Dorsey with 17 points apiece. Golden led the squad with seven rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots while Moore went 3-for-7 from beyond the arc and knocked down 6-for-10 from the foul line.
Jones notched 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting with two blocks and two steals while Ford rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11 points on 3-for-6 shooting, 2-for-4 from three and 3-of-4 from the charity stripe.
Mid-America Christian will seek its 20th win of the season at the Gaulke Activity Center on Tuesday as the Evangels will host Science & Arts for a 7:45 p.m. tip-off.
