SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. – The No. 2 Mid-America Christian men's basketball team suffered its first loss of the 2019-20 season at No. 10 John Brown on Thursday night at Bill George Arena as the Evangels had their 20-game win streak snapped after falling 81-74 to the Golden Eagles.

After setting the longest win streak in the modern era against Science & Arts on Tuesday night, Mid-America Christian (20-1, 11-1 Sooner Athletic Conference) faced an uphill battle against a rested John Brown (19-2, 10-1 SAC) squad that tested the Evangels on both ends of the floor.

Despite trailing by 16 in the second half, senior guard D'von Moore helped lead an Evangels comeback with a team-high 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including 4-for-10 from three and 5-of-6 from the free throw line.

However, the Evangels couldn't quite overcome the deficit against one of the nation's top free throw shooting teams, who thwarted the comeback efforts by finishing 23-for-28 (83.1 percent) from the charity stripe.

Mid-America Christian started off strong as Dominick Ford notched a couple lay-ins and Tony Dorsey drained a long three to quickly put the Evangels in-front 7-2 through the first 1:52.

The Golden Eagles clawed their way back over the next six minutes, tying the score on a pair of occasions before taking their first lead on a Nemanja Obradovic layup with 12:31 left to make it an 11-9 JBU edge.

From there, neither team could gain any traction as the lead traded places six times over the next five minutes before JBU's Densier Carnes put the Golden Eagles in-front for the remainder of the contest with a layup at the 7:41 mark to make it 20-19.

The Evangels kept it to within a possession for most the half. A Moore layup with 2:56 to go brought the deficit to within one before John Brown rattled off four in a row to take its largest lead at that point at 33-28 with 1:08 to go until the break.

However, MACU finished the final minute strong as Dorsey and Ashford Golden each knocked down a pair of free throws to close the deficit to 33-32 at the half.

While Mid-America Christian shot well from the field at 13-for-28 (46.4 percent), the Evangels struggled on the long ball by going just 1-for-7 (14.3 percent) from three and 5-for-8 (62.5 percent) from the free throw line.

Calon Woodson kept the Evangels to within one with a three-pointer from the left corner off an offensive rebound to make it 36-35 just 51 seconds into the second half, but that would be the closest MACU could come to taking the lead the rest of the way.

John Brown caught fire by rattling off eight unanswered to stretch its advantage to 44-35 before Dorsey sank a free throw with 16:54 to briefly stop the run.

The Golden Eagles continued to pull away with another eight straight points, taking their largest lead of the game on a Kiree Hutchings three with 12:41 on the clock to make it a 52-36 JBU edge.

Midway through the half, the Evangels put together a 9-2 run as Moore and Damarius Brooks combined to knock down a trio of threes to trim the deficit to single-digits at 56-47 with 8:14 left. After a pair of JBU free throws pushed the lead back to double-figures, layups by Terrance Jones and Brooks helped shrink the deficit to 58-51 with 7:06 remaining.

The Golden Eagles quickly stifled the run with a string of seven unanswered to push the JBU edge back to 14 with 5:49 on the clock, but the Evangels continued to fight back Moore buried long threes on back-to-back possessions to help close the gap back to 65-57 with 5:06 left.

Out of a timeout, John Brown once again pushed its advantage back to double-figures before a Golden layup with 1:52 to go brought the JBU edge back down to nine at 72-63.

The Evangels were able to trim the deficit to six on three occasions over the final two minutes, but MACU could do little to stop the Golden Eagles red-hot free throw shooting down the stretch as JBU held off the Evangels rally for the 81-74 win.

Mid-America Christian was able to shoot much better from behind the arc in the second half, knocking down 7-of-15 (46.7 percent) to finish 8-for-22 (36.4 percent) from three for the game while replicating its first half shooting performance by going 13-of-28 once again to finish 26-for-56 (46.4 percent) in the contest.

MACU could do little to stop John Brown's offensive attack in the second half, as the Golden Eagles went 14-for-23 (60.9 percent) from the floor and 6-for-12 (50 percent) from three in the final 20 minutes.

Ford was one of four Evangels in double-figures with 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting to go with six boards and two steals and was joined by Dorsey with 13 on 4-of-9 from the field, 2-for-5 from three and 3-for-4 from the charity stripe. Golden rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points and six rebounds in defeat.

With the loss, the Evangels and Golden Eagles split the regular season series after MACU topped John Brown 73-59 back on Jan. 4 inside the Gaulke Activity Center. The Evangels currently hold a half-game lead over the Golden Eagles at the top of the Sooner Athletic Conference standings.

Mid-America Christian will return home on Saturday, Feb. 1 as the Evangels will open a three-game home stand with a non-conference matchup against Bacone. After defeating the Warriors on the road on Jan. 2, the Evangels will look for a season sweep following a 4 p.m. tip-off.