PLAINVIEW, Texas – The No. 1 Mid-America Christian men's basketball team struggled to slow down the red-hot shooting 13th-ranked Southwestern Assemblies of God in the SAC Semifinal on Saturday, falling to the fourth-seeded Lions 101-79 at the Hutcherson Center.
SAGU (24-7) shot lights out from beyond the arc, making 17-for-33 (51.5 percent) from the three-point arc and 31-of-64 (48.4 percent) overall while Mid-America Christian (30-2) was held to its second-worst shooting percentage at 41.9 percent (26-of-62) and its second-worst three-point shooting percentage at 23.8 (5-for-21).
Despite the disappointing result, one bright spot for the Evangels was the play of Damarius Brooks off the bench, scoring a team-high 21 points on 7-for-12 shooting, 2-for-4 from three and 5-for-6 from the free throw line. Terrance Jones also poured in 20 points off the Evangels bench on 7-for-11 from the field and 6-for-7 from the charity stripe to go with a team-high six rebounds.
The Evangels were able to keep it close in the early going as a Calon Woodson jumper and an Ashford Golden dunk with 16:03 to go in the first half cut the early SAGU lead to 7-6.
Three Joshua Kashila free throws pushed the lead back out to four, but D'von Moore knocked down a three to cut the deficit back to one at 13-12 with 14:56 to play.
MACU was able to keep it to within one until a Howard Turner three with 14:06 remaining started a barrage of three-point scoring for the Lions.
SAGU surged into a double-digit lead, but Jones tried to stem the tide when he converted a three-point play with the hoop and the harm with 8:07 remaining to cut the deficit to 39-31.
However, SAGU responded with an 11-0 run off of a trio of three-pointers by Mitchell McMullen, Kentton Williams and Courtland Blake as well as two Kashila free throw to extend SAGU's edge to 50-31 with 5:15 until the half.
The Lions extended their lead to as much as 20 in the first half, taking a 59-39 advantage into the locker room after Cody Farmer came up with an offensive rebound and fadeaway putback at the buzzer.
Mid-America Christian shot only 11-for-27 (40.7 percent) in the first half while making just 2-for-8 (25 percent) from three in the first 20 minutes, but converted 15-for-18 (83.3 percent) from the free throw line to try and stay in it. Meanwhile, SAGU knocked down 19-for-40 (47.5 percent) from the field and 11-for-22 (50 percent) from three while also shooting an efficient 10-for-11 (90.9 percent) from the foul line.
The Evangels struggled to put a dent in the Lions lead in the second half as the closest MACU could cut into it was off a pair of Brooks free throws with 12:52 to make it 69-54.
SAGU spoiled the Evangels comeback chances with a 12-2 run over the next four-and-a-half minutes as a Blake free throw with 8:28 left capped the run at 81-58.
MACU was unable to cut the lead below 20 the rest of the way as the Lions pulled away for the 101-79 win.
It was more of the same for MACU in the second half, knocking down just 15-for-35 (42.9 percent) while still struggling from three at 3-of-13 (23.1 percent). The Lions shot 12-for-24 (50 percent) in the second half and 6-for-11 (54.5 percent) with the only flaw being a 12-for-21 (57.1 percent) rate from the charity stripe.
Golden was the only other Evangel to crack double-figures with 14 points, converting 6-for-7 from the foul line, but struggled from the field at 4-for-12 and 0-of-3 from downtown while recording a team-high three steals.
Mid-America Christian will now look to refocus for the NAIA Tournament as the Evangels will start their chase for a second National Championship. The tourney will be played from March 18-24 at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.
The Selection Show for the NAIA Tournament will take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Mar. 11 on the Play NAIA Facebook page.
