OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 2 Mid-America Christian men's basketball team is preparing to take on its final ranked opponents of the 2019-20 regular season. On Thursday, Feb. 13, the Evangels will head to Waxahachie, Texas to take on No. 15 Southwestern Assemblies of God at 7:45 p.m. and will return home on Saturday, Feb. 15 for a 3:45 p.m. matchup against No. 20 Texas Wesleyan.
LAST TIME OUT
Last week, Mid-America Christian (23-1, 13-1 SAC) dominated on the defensive end in an 88-55 victory over Oklahoma Panhandle State, limiting the Aggies to just 31.6 percent shooting from the floor and 22.2 percent from the three-point arc. Damarius Brooks led a balanced MACU scoring effort with five players cracking into double-figures with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the three-point arc. Both Marvin Lowe and Dominick Ford each finished a board shy of a double-double with Lowe tallying 14 points and nine rebounds and Ford finishing with 11 points and nine boards.
The Evangels faced a strong challenge from Wayland Baptist on Saturday. MACU held a 13-point lead at the halftime break and led by as much as 14 in the second half before the Pioneers stormed back to make it a tight game late. Wayland Baptist closed the gap to one with 5:43 left before MACU went on a 10-2 run to push the advantage back to 80-70 with 3:46 to go.
WBU once again clawed its way back to make it a one-point game with six seconds left. However, MACU's Tony Dorsey made a heads up play with six seconds left when the Pioneers tried to trap off the inbound, Dorsey made a long pass down the court to Ashford Golden to avoid the trap before the ball was knocked out of bounds by a Pioneers defender with one second left.
Terrance Jones was fouled before the inbound pass and made one of two free throws, intentionally missing the second free throw to run the clock out for the win. D'von Moore was big off the MACU bench, scoring a team-high 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting and went 4-for-6 from three while knocking down all five free throw attempts.
SCOUTING THE LIONS
No. 15 Southwestern Assemblies of God has been on a hot streak since Dec. 17, 2019, winning 13 of its last 14 games with the lone loss coming to Mid-America Christian on Jan. 18. The Lions hold a 19-3 overall record and possess an 11-3 mark against SAC competition. Last week, SAGU came away with a hard-fought 102-90 win at Oklahoma City before dominating Southwestern Christian 98-60 on its home floor on Saturday.
SAGU is one of the top scoring teams in the country, averaging 92.9 points per game, which ranks fourth in the NAIA, just two spots ahead of MACU at 91.8 ppg. The Lions are the sixth-best shooting team in the nation 51.2 percent, just a couple of percentage points behind the Evangels in fourth at 51.4 percent.
The Lions are led offensively by reigning NAIA Player of the Week Nykolas Mason, who is currently the sixth-best scorer in the NAIA at 22.3 ppg, shooting a blazing 63 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from the three-point arc while leading the team in free throw shooting with 100 conversions from the charity stripe. Mason is also a leader for the Lions on the defensive end, blocking a team-best 22 shots. The Evangels will also need to focus on junior guard Joshua Kashila, who is the SAC's fourth-leading scorer at 16.9 ppg on a 46.2 percent shooting clip with a team-best 47 made threes. Kashila is also the team's leading rebounders with 148 (6.7 rpg) as well as assist leader with 66 and steals leader at 29.
HISTORY WITH THE LIONS
During the NAIA era, Mid-America Christian is 12-7 against Southwestern Assemblies of God and have won the last three contests. In their previous meeting back on Jan. 18, senior guard/forward Ashford Golden put together a stellar offensive performance with 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting and recorded a double-double with 11 rebounds in the 90-86 victory. The Lions had the chance to take the lead with seven seconds left, but Golden tightly contested Mason's go-ahead three-point attempt from the left wing, forcing a miss. Golden came down with the defensive board and knocked down a pair of free throws with two seconds left to seal the victory. The last time the two teams met in Waxahachie, the Evangels pulled out a 73-60 win on Feb. 2, 2019.
SCOUTING THE RAMS
No. 20 Texas Wesleyan will make its way into tomorrow night's home matchup against Science & Arts with a 17-6 overall record and a 10-4 mark in SAC play. Last week, the Rams dropped a 100-89 game at Southwestern Christian before bouncing back with a 73-69 win over Oklahoma City at home on Saturday.
TWU is the third-rated scoring offense in the SAC, averaging 89.1 ppg, which ranks 10th in the NAIA. The Rams are also a solid shooting team that ranks 11th in the nation, converting on 49.7 percent of their shots.
The balanced Rams scoring attack has five players averaging double-figures, led by junior forward Akeem White at 15 ppg on a 59.6 percent shooting clip while also leading the squad on the glass at 6.4 rpg. The offense will run through junior point guard Davon Berry, who leads the team and is sixth in the SAC with 75 assists while teammate Joe Cook-Green is seventh with 71. Sophomore guard Payton Salley is a leader for TWU on both the offensive and defensive ends, ranking second on the team in scoring at 13.1 ppg while topping the team with 35 steals.
HISTORY WITH THE RAMS
Mid-America Christian holds a slight 8-6 edge in the series since MACU joined the Sooner Athletic Conference in 2007. In their last meeting, the Evangels snapped a three-game losing streak to the Rams by coming away with a 92-81 road win in Fort Worth. After the Rams tied the score at 56 with 10:40 left in the second half, the Evangels dominated the rest of the way before cruising to victory. Cedric Wright put up a monster game in the low post, notching a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds in the victory.
TAKING THE TOP 25 BY STORM
By taking on the 15th and 20th-ranked teams in the country this week, the Mid-America Christian men's basketball team will be looking to continue to build their postseason resume. The Lions and Rams will be the Evangels' seventh and eighth ranked opponents MACU has faced this season. Coming into the week, MACU possesses a 5-1 record against ranked opponents, tallying home wins over No. 11 LSU Shreveport, No. 10 John Brown and No. 22 SAGU, as well as road wins at No. 9 Wayland Baptist and No. 19 Texas Wesleyan. MACU's only loss to a ranked opponent this season came on Jan. 29 at No. 10 John Brown.
SAC TOURNAMENT WATCH – DOWN THE STRETCH
With just three weeks remaining in the regular season, this week's matchups will be crucial for Mid-America Christian as the Evangels pursue their second ever Sooner Athletic Conference Championship. With a 13-1 conference record, the Evangels currently hold a one-game lead over No. 9 John Brown for the league lead as the Golden Eagles possess a 12-2 conference mark. No. 15 Southwestern Assemblies of God is just two games back at 11-3 and Texas Wesleyan is hot on the Lions' heels at 10-4. Due to defeating Wayland Baptist last week, the Evangels have secured a home game in the first round of the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament as MACU cannot drop out of the top four. However, the Evangels have their sights set at a regular season championship and the No. 1 seed. The last time MACU won the Sooner Athletic Conference came during the 2014-15 campaign as the Evangels went 14-4 in league play to finish a game ahead of Wayland Baptist and Oklahoma City for the conference crown.
