OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian men's basketball team had five All-Sooner Athletic Conference recipients, headlined by senior guard Ashford Golden being named a unanimous First Team selection while MACU Head Coach Josh Gamblin was selected as the John Hudson Coach of the Year on Wednesday.
Junior guard Terrance Jones and redshirt senior forward Cedric Wright joined Golden by earning All-SAC Second Team honors while senior guard D'von Moore and junior guard Tony Dorsey were named to the All-SAC Honorable Mention list.
In his fifth season at the helm, Gamblin guided the Evangels to a 29-1 regular season record and a 19-1 mark in Sooner Athletic Conference play. By getting a win at home on Senior Night against Central Christian on Feb. 27, the Evangels won their second ever SAC Championship, their first since the 2014-15 campaign.
By also getting a win over Langston in the regular season finale on Feb. 29, MACU established a new NAIA era single season wins record, surpassing the 28-9 mark set by Coach Gamblin's 2015-16 NAIA National Championship team.
Mid-America Christian opened the season by winning its first 20 games, setting the longest win streak in the program since the 2003-04 squad won 19 in a row under legendary Head Coach Willie Holley on its way to winning the NCCAA Division II National Championship, the third in the program's history.
The Evangels won their first ever SAC Tournament game at the Gaulke Activity Center over Southwestern Christian on Tuesday, not only tying the 30 wins set by that 2004 NCCAA National Championship team (30-7), but also became one of just four teams in the NAIA this season to finish with a perfect home record at 17-0, joining John Brown, LSU-Shreveport and Central Baptist.
By going 19-1 against SAC competition, the Evangels became the first SAC team to finish with just one conference loss since Oklahoma Baptist went 21-1 in league play during the 2009-10 season. The Bison that season not only went on to win the SAC Tournament Championship, but also won the NAIA National Championship.
One of just two players to be named a unanimous All-SAC First Team selection, Golden was the only player in the league to finish in the top five in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots. The Oklahoma City product ranks fourth in the conference at 17.3 points per game, second in rebounds with 221 and second in blocked shots with 33.
In the win over Southwestern Christian in the SAC Quarterfinal on Tuesday, Golden moved into eighth on MACU's NAIA era single season scoring list with 537 points, surpassing Angelo Lewis and is just six points away from overtaking Nick Tate for seventh. Golden also passed Chris Runnels for the fifth-most rebounds in the NAIA era with 221 and is just four away from surpassing Justin Bogle on the list.
Golden set several NAIA single game marks over the course of the season including notching two of the top 10 single game scoring performances. By tallying a career-best 39 points against Science & Arts on Dec. 13, 2019, Golden tied Charlie Shorter and Lewis for the fourth-most points scored in a single game during the NAIA era. Golden followed it up with a 37-point performance against Oklahoma City on Feb. 20, setting the seventh-best single game mark. Golden made eight three-pointers against the Stars, the third-most in a single contest, finishing only behind the nine set by Semar Farris and Olajuwon Gardner.
The 6-6 combo guard also became just one of three players in the NAIA era to ever go a perfect 10-of-10 or better from the free throw line in a single game with his performance against No. 11 LSU-Shreveport, joining Shorter and Tate as the only two other Evangels to do so.
Coming in on the All-SAC Second Team, Jones has been a spark off the MACU bench all season, averaging 13.6 ppg and 5.8 rpg while shooting a blistering 56.4 percent from the field and knocking down 38.1 percent of his shot attempts along with 76.1 percent from the charity stripe.
The Dallas, Texas native has been particularly great late in the season, notching four of his six 20-plus point games in the last four contests, including a 22-point performance in MACU's 89-82 win over Southwestern Christian in the SAC Quarterfinal.
Despite missing 12 games this season due to injury, Wright was strongly recognized by the coaches in the league, even earning some votes for All-SAC First Team. This season, Wright is averaging 15.2 ppg while shooting a blazing 71.2 percent from the floor while ripping down 5.6 rebounds per game.
Even though the Fort Lauderdale, Fla. product played in just 19 games during the regular season, he still finished third on the team with 12 blocked shots. Wright was a double-figure scoring machine during the season, breaking double-figures in 16 of the 19 games he played in.
In a talented field of SAC talent, the Evangels also landed two on the All-SAC Honorable Mention list in Moore and Dorsey.
Moore will enter the SAC Semifinal as the team's third-leading scorer with 363 points, averaging 11.7 ppg while shooting 41.8 percent overall, 41 percent from the three-point arc and is the squad's top free throw shooter at 81.7 percent.
The Statesboro, Ga. native is one of the most prolific three-point shooters during the Evangels tenure in the SAC, knocking down a team-leading 77 triples, just two away from tying Farris for the fifth-most in a single season. Moore also ranks second on the team with 77 assists, averaging 2.5 per game.
A dynamic defender and point guard, Dorsey has been one of the most clutch players for the Evangels all-season. The Shreveport, La. native is the team's leader in assists with 109, the third-most in the SAC while also leading the team with 44 steals.
Over the course of the season, Dorsey is averaging 9.4 ppg while shooting 42.7 percent from the field and 76 percent from the foul line.
The point man's biggest moment of the season came in crunch time at No. 15 Southwestern Assemblies of God as he was fouled going up for the potential game-winning shot at the buzzer and coolly knocked down a pair of free throws to give MACU the 80-79 road victory.
The top-seeded an No. 1 ranked Evangels will be back in-action on Friday, Mar. 6 as MACU will take on No. 13 Southwestern Assemblies of God in the SAC Semifinal match. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. inside the Hutcherson Center, on the campus of Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas.
