OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 2 Mid-America Christian men's team played some stellar defense and dominated on the glass as the Evangels pulled away for an 88-56 victory over Oklahoma Panhandle State on Thursday night at the Gaulke Activity Center.
Mid-America Christian (22-1, 12-1 Sooner Athletic Conference held Oklahoma Panhandle State (4-17, 0-13 SAC) to just 18-for-57 (31.6 percent) from the floor and 4-for-18 (22.2 percent) from three while outrebounding the Aggies by a staggering 56-to-27 margin, the third-most boards by a MACU team in a single game in the NAIA era.
Junior guard Damarius Brooks led five Evangels into double-figures with 15 points on 5-for-9 shooting from the three-point arc while Marvin Lowe finished just a board shy of a double-double with 14 points on 6-of-6 from the field and 2-for-3 from the charity stripe to go along with nine rebounds.
The Aggies tested the Evangels early on as a Brett Williams layup briefly put the OPSU in-front 11-10 with 13:06 left in the first half.
Brooks quickly put MACU back in-front with a triple on the left side off a D'von Moore assist, but OPSU managed to tie it up two possessions later at 13-all with 12:02 remaining.
Just 15 seconds later, Brooks put MACU ahead for good as Moore once again found him open on the left wing for a three, starting a string of seven unanswered as buckets by Carlos Slaughter and Lowe gave MACU a 20-13 advantage with 10:29 on the clock.
However, the Aggies fought back once again to bring it to a two-point game at 22-20 on a D.K. Sumo three with 8:47 left, forcing MACU Head Coach Josh Gamblin to call a timeout.
Out of the break, Moore was able to pull an errant pass away from an OPSU defender trying to steal and drained a long-range bomb from the left wing to start an 8-0 run.
MACU extended its edge to 10 after a Dominick Ford three-point splash and a Terrance Jones layup made it 30-20 with 6:26 to go until the half.
Oklahoma Panhandle State managed to keep it to within seven with 2:34 remaining, but Mid-America Christian regained the momentum by scoring the final eight points on a Ford three, a Lowe layup and a Moore three-point play, bringing the MACU lead to 45-30 at the halftime break.
Mid-America Christian knocked down 18-for-36 (50 percent) from the floor in the opening half, including 7-for-18 (38.9 percent) from three, while holding the Aggies to just 10-of-27 (37 percent) shooting and 3-for-8 (37.5 percent) from the arc.
The Evangels defense was dominant to start out the first half, as OPSU did not score its first field goal until the 12:39 mark. MACU extended its lead to 56-36 with 12:55 left to play before the Aggies netted their first field goal.
Mid-America Christian all but put the game out of reach midway through the second half. With the Evangels maintaining a 63-42 advantage, MACU quickly strung together an 11-2 run to stretch the lead to 74-44 on yet another Dominick Ford three with 8:10 to go.
With 3:19 remaining, the Evangels built their largest lead of the game in dramatic fashion. As OPSU's Tristan Wobble was going in for a layup, Calon Woodson emphatically blocked it, leading to an Ashford Golden fastbreak slam dunk off a Jones lob to bring the score to 84-46.
Several of the MACU reserves played the final few minutes as the Evangels cruised to the 88-52 victory.
While the Evangels offensive numbers were down in the second half, MACU shot 10-for-12 (83.3 percent) from the free throw line to finish the game 12-for-15 (80 percent) from the line to go along with 47.1 percent field goal clip and 36.4 percent rate from three.
In his return from injury, Jones turned in a 12-point performance on 5-of-12 shooting with four boards. Along with Lowe, Ford just missed a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds while Moore rounded out the double-figure scoring with 11 on 4-of-5 from the field and 2-for-3 from three to go with a team-best four assists.
Mid-America Christian will return to the court on Saturday to wrap up its three-game home stand with a 3:45 p.m. tip-off against Wayland Baptist.
