OKLAHOMA CITY – Coming off its first loss of the season, the No. 2 Mid-America Christian men's basketball team got back on the winning track on Saturday by topping Bacone College 93-63 to close out a busy stretch of playing three games in five days.
Senior guard Ashford Golden led five Evangels in double-figures with 18 points on 6-of-14 from the field and 4-for-8 from three while ripping down seven rebounds to go with a pair of steals. Junior forward Dominick Ford knocked down a career-best 5-for-6 from three to finish with 16 points and five boards.
Mid-America Christian (21-1) jumped out to a fast start as a Golden three and mid-range jumper along with a pair of Marvin Lowe free throws gave the Evangels the 7-0 edge through the first 2:42 of the first half.
Bacone (0-20) clawed its way back to make it 7-6 with 15:12 to go, but Golden rekindled the MACU offense with a pair of free throws and a three on back-to-back possessions to start a 20-2 run. After a Joseph Johnson score briefly brought the lead down to four, the Evangels rattled off the next 15 points.
Carlos Slaughter capped off the run in-style, as the reserve forward picked the pocket of Johnson at the top of the key and emphatically slammed home a fastbreak dunk to bring the MACU advantage to 27-8 with 10:16 left.
The Evangels strung together one more strong run in the first half as a Damarius Brooks drive and dish to Lowe for a slam dunk with eight minutes left started a string of 13 unanswered. Golden finished off the run when Ford drove the lane and kicked it out to the sharp shooter on the left wing, burying a three to set the score to 42-13 with 3:24 to go until halftime.
Bacone chipped away at the Evangels edge before the half as the Warriors ended it by nearly doubling their scoring output in the final 3:24. The Warriors outscored the Evangels 12-5 down the stretch to bring the halftime score to 47-25.
Mid-America Christian shot 16-for-29 (55.2 percent) in the opening half, including knocking down 9-of-17 (52.9 percent) from three and converted 6-for-6 from the charity stripe. Defensively, MACU held Bacone to just 10-for-31 (32.3 percent) shooting and 5-for-16 (31.3 percent) from three.
The Warriors kept it to a 20-point game with 14:30 to go in the second half before the Evangels scored 14 unanswered points. D'von Moore found Ford on the right wing for a triple on a fastbreak dish from the left side to end the run at 68-34 with 10:17 left in regulation.
The Evangels never led by less than 30 the rest of the way as MACU cruised to the 93-63 win.
Nearly mirroring the MACU women, the men's team was also electric from beyond the arc, finishing with a season-best 17-for-31 (54.8 percent) while shooting 33-for-62 (53.2 percent) from the field. The 17 triples tied the third-most threes in a single game during the NAIA era, matching the mark set in a 127-56 win over Kansas Christian on Nov. 22, 2016.
Joining Golden and Ford in double-figures, Brooks pitched in 14 points off the MACU bench, shooting 4-for-5 from the field, 2-for-3 from three and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. Tony Dorsey notched 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting and 2-for-5 from three to go with a team-best four steals and Lowe rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting to go with five boards.
Moore tied a season-high six assists to go along with his nine points on 3-of-5 shooting from the three-point arc.
After closing out non-conference play, Mid-America Christian will return to Sooner Athletic Conference action next week as the Evangels will host Oklahoma Panhandle State inside the Gaulke Activity Center for a 7:45 p.m. tip on Thursday, Feb. 6.
