OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 3 Mid-America Christian men's basketball team is preparing to take on its second straight top 10 opponent as the Evangels will head to Plainview, Texas for a Thursday night bout against No. 9 Wayland Baptist at 7:45 p.m. before heading to Goodwell, Okla. for a 3:45 p.m. matchup with Oklahoma Panhandle State on Saturday.
LAST TIME OUT
Mid-America Christian (13-0, 4-0 Sooner Athletic Conference) started the new year on a high note as the Evangels set a program NAIA era record for rebounds with 60 and tied the NAIA era record for assists with 32 in a dominating 126-72 victory at Bacone College on Jan. 2. Senior guard/forward Ashford Golden poured in 32 points, his second straight 30-plus point game while Tony Dorsey notched a career-high 12 assists, the most by a MACU player since the 2015-16 season.
The Evangels followed it up with one of its best defensive performances of the season against No. 10 John Brown, as MACU held the Golden Eagles to just 59 points, including 22 points in the first half of action in a 73-59 win. D'von Moore led MACU with 20 points as Evangels picked up its second NAIA Top 25 win of the season.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Wayland Baptist makes its way into the week with an 8-4 record and are 2-2 against Sooner Athletic Conference competition. The Pioneers have hit a rough stretch since their star player J.J. Culver dropped 100 points against Southwestern Adventist on Dec. 10 as WBU has dropped three straight since Culver's incredible performance. Wayland fell in a three overtime affair to Hardin-Simmons on Dec. 28 before dropping a pair of SAC contests last week at Southwestern Assemblies of God 90-60 on Jan. 2 and 97-50 at No. 22 Texas Wesleyan on Jan. 4.
Earning the SAC Player of the Year last season, Culver not only leads the Pioneers, but also the entire NAIA with a 29.8 points per game scoring average while knocking down 45.9 percent of his shots while also going 41-for-117 (35 percent) from the three-point arc. Culver is also the team's leading rebounder at 6.3 rebounds per game as well as steals at 39 while also ranking second on the squad in assists with 34.
Freshman point guard Payton Havens is the team's top distributor, recording 40 assists for a 3.3 apg average while junior center Deng Bol Yol is the squad's best shot blocker with 14 on the season.
HISTORY WITH THE PIONEERS
Since joining the SAC prior to the 2007-08 season, Wayland Baptist holds a 17-9 edge in the series and have won four of the last five meetings. The Evangels are just 2-10 in Plainview, Texas, with the last win coming on Feb. 2, 2013. The Evangels would like to get some revenge on the Pioneers after WBU swept the season series last year with 70-50 win at home on Dec. 1, 2018 before coming into the Gaulke Activity Center on Jan. 24, 2019 and handing MACU a 68-52 defeat.
SCOUTING THE AGGIES
Oklahoma Panhandle State enters the weekend with a 3-8 overall mark, going 0-4 in conference play thus far. Since getting off to a 3-1 start to open the season, the Aggies have lost seven straight, including a pair of SAC losses last week. OPSU fell 90-50 at No. 21 Texas Wesleyan on Jan. 2 before dropping an 87-57 affair at Southwestern Assemblies of God on Jan. 4.
Junior forward Maurice Waters leads the Aggies offensive attack, averaging 13.3 ppg on 52.1 percent shooting from the field while also leading the OPSU rebounding efforts at 7.3 rpg. Freshman guard Jalen Williams is the team's offensive catalyst, leading the squad with 29 assists (2.6 apg) while playing solid defense with a team-high 16 steals.
HISTORY WITH THE AGGIES
The Evangels haven't had much luck against Oklahoma Panhandle State since becoming an NAIA institution prior to the start of the 2017-18 season. The Aggies have won three of the four prior meetings with MACU's lone win coming in a 104-85 victory at the Gaulke Activity Center on Feb. 17, 2018.
MR. 100
With a dominant performance against the No. 10 team in the country in John Brown on Saturday, MACU Head Coach Josh Gamblin could not have asked for a better time to get his 100th career victory. In his fifth season with the Evangels, Gamblin has amassed a 100-51 (.662) record and a 46-36 mark against SAC competition. On top of leading the program to its first ever NAIA National Championship back in 2016, Gamblin has guided the team to its first ever 13-0 start to a season.
DORSEY ON-POINT
Operating the third-most efficient scoring offense in the NAIA, junior guard Tony Dorsey has elevated his play at the point guard position within the last month. Leading the team with 51 assists at a 3.9 assist per game ratio, the Shreveport, La. Native has been prolific with his distribution in the last four games, recording 25 assists in the last four games (6.3 apg), including a pair of double-assist games. In a Dec. 3 win at Texas A&M-Texarkana, Dorsey notched 10 of the team's 26 assists to propel the Evangels to a 90-81 victory. A month later, Dorsey would surpass it with 12 assists against Bacone College on Jan. 2. The 12-assist effort was the most since Malcolm Mann dropped 13 against the Braves back on Jan. 28, 2016, finishing the season with 184 assists. As a team, MACU tallied 32 assists against Bacone, tying the program's NAIA era record that was originally set against Hillsdale College on Nov. 7, 2014.
