MUSKOGEE, Okla. – Coming off a 20-day hiatus, the No. 3 Mid-America Christian men's basketball team picked up right where it left off in 2019, cruising to a 126-72 victory at Bacone College at the Palmer Center on Thursday night.
It was a record-breaking performance for Mid-America Christian (12-0), ripping down an NAIA era record 60 rebounds while holding Bacone (0-12) to just 18 boards on the night. It topped the previous record of 58 set against Haskell in the season-opener of the 2015-16 NAIA Championship season on Oct. 27, 2015.
The 126 points scored by the Evangels was also the most since a 127-56 victory over Kansas Christian on Nov. 22, 2016 and the most MACU has ever scored against the Braves.
Seven Evangels cracked double-digit scoring, led by senior guard/forward Ashford Golden with his second-straight 30-plus point performance, tallying 32 points on 12-of-18 shooting and 5-of-9 from beyond the arc to go with seven boards and three assists in just 20 minutes of play.
Junior guard Tony Dorsey ran the Evangels offense to near perfection, dishing out a career-high 12 assists, the most by an Evangels player since Malcolm Mann notched 13 against the Braves on Jan. 28, 2016.
Despite Bacone keeping it close in the early going on a three-pointer by Cratezz Graves to make it a 6-3 game with 17:05 on the clock, MACU blew the doors open as a Calon Woodson triple on the ensuing possession started a string of 11 unanswered, closed out on a Cedric Wright lay-in with 14:12 left to set the score at 17-3.
The Evangels continued to build upon its lead throughout the half as the advantage bowed out to as much as 26 after a Marvin Lowe layup with 23 seconds left followed by a Dorsey bucket off a Lowe steal just before the buzzer gave MACU a 59-33 edge at the halftime break.
MACU shot a blazing 24-for-37 (64.9 percent) from the floor and 6-of-14 (42.9 percent) from the three-point arc in the first 20 minutes of regulation while limiting the Braves to just 12-for-33 (33.3 percent) from the field and 6-for-18 (33.3 percent) from beyond the arc.
Bacone was able to keep the Evangels from pulling away any further through the early portions of the second half, but a Carlos Slaughter three-pointer with 11:12 remaining jumpstarted an incredible 34-3 run capped off on a D'von Moore three with 4:46 left, giving MACU its largest lead of the contest at 115-55.
The Braves chiseled the Evangels' advantage down to 47 with 2:13 left, but MACU finished strong by scoring eight of the final nine points to come away with the 54-point victory.
The Evangels surpassed the 60-percent shooting mark for the fourth time this season, gunning 50-for-80 (62.5 percent) from the floor and 14-of-31 (45.2 percent) from the three-point arc.
Wright chipped in 16 points on 8-of-9 shooting while Lowe (14), Damarius Brooks (14), Terrance Jones (13), Dominick Ford (10) and Moore (10) rounded out the Evangels' double-figure scorers.
Jones led MACU on the glass with eight rebounds while Dorsey notched three assists to go with his 12-assist night.
Mid-America Christian will now prepare to face its second ranked opponent of the season as the Evangels will host No. 10 John Brown on Saturday, Jan. 4 at the Gaulke Activity Center.
