Men's Basketball 1/6/2021 3:07:00 PM Adam Stanek - MACU Sports Information

Men’s Basketball Ready For Rescheduled Matchup Against Science & Arts

OKLAHOMA CITY – After their Nov. 21 game was postponed due to health concerns, the No. 3 Mid-America Christian men's basketball team will rekindle its rivalry in a non-conference matchup against Science & Arts for a 7 p.m. tipoff at the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday.

LAST TIME OUT
Mid-America Christian will be looking to bounce back from a 70-60 exhibition loss to NCAA Division II East Central (Okla.) at the Gaulke Activity Center on Monday. In that matchup, the Evangels tightly contested the Tigers, even holding a 48-46 lead over ECU following a Dominick Ford three-point play with 9:23 remaining. However, East Central responded with a 9-0 run over the next 2:30 to take a seven-point advantage before pulling away with the win.

Ford was the lone Evangel to break double-figures with 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting and went 4-for-4 from the foul line to go with a team-high seven rebounds and blocked a shot. Omar Boone added nine points off the MACU bench, including going 7-of-8 from the charity stripe while dishing out a team-best five assists.

SCOUTING THE DROVERS
Thursday night's bout will be a battle of undefeated teams as Science & Arts will enter the contest with a 4-0 record. The Drovers will be competing in their first official game since picking up an 89-78 win at the USAO Fieldhouse against Southwestern Christian on Nov. 19.

The 19^th-ranked scoring offense in the NAIA is led by junior guard Stephon Hall, who ranks fourth in the SAC at 18.8 points per game while shooting 57.1 percent from the field, 42.1 percent from three and 86.4 percent from the free throw line. Senior guard Cameron Hines is also a strong scoring threat, averaging 17 ppg while shooting 60 percent overall and 64 percent from the three-point arc.

Junior guard Gerrard Makuntae leads the team in rebounds with 29 (7.3 rebounds per game), but the Drovers as a team have been solid on the glass with four players averaging six or more boards per game. Hall and Hines have been the primary catalysts of the offense with 16 and 15 assists respectively while senior guard Elvin Rodriguez has also chipped in 15 this season as well.

On the defensive end, Hall and Makuntae lead the team with seven steals apiece while senior forward Trenton Sandifer leads the nation's third-best shot-blocking team with 10 rejections.

HISTORY WITH THE DROVERS
Since the series started in 2008, Mid-America Christian holds a 17-11 edge and are currently on a four-game win streak against the Drovers. In last season's meetings, the Evangels picked up a 98-86 come-from-behind victory at the USAO Fieldhouse on Dec. 13, 2019 before completing the series sweep with a 98-70 win at the Gaulke Activity Center on Jan. 28, 2020.

Terrance Jones put together a big game for MACU in its home victory, scoring a game-high 21 points to go with six rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block while Carlos Slaughter had one of his best games in an Evangels uniform, notching 16 points off the MACU bench on 5-of-7 shooting, 3-for-3 from three while also tallying a pair of steals and a block.

OFFENSIVE OVERVIEW
Despite facing a pair of tough exhibition opponents, the Evangels will be looking to improve upon their shooting proficiency following their last two performances against Oklahoma Baptist and East Central. MACU could only muster 57 points on 33.9 percent shooting, 27.8 percent from three and 58.3 percent from the foul line in the 82-57 loss. The Evangels didn't fare much better offensively against the Tigers, tallying just 60 points on 31.3 percent from the field, 17.4 percent from the arc and 66.7 percent from the charity stripe. The Drovers will also provide a challenge defensively for the Evangels, as the Drovers are limiting opponents to the third-lowest field goal percentage shooting in the NAIA at 35.8 percent per game. The Evangels will be looking to get back to their 2020 form, when they averaged the third-highest scoring clip in the NAIA at 102 ppg while knocking down the nation's fifth-highest three-point percentage (43.2) and 14^th-best overall shooting clip (52 percent).

REEMERGING DOM-INANCE
Even though the Evangels offense struggled against the Tigers, one player who shined in the exhibition loss was Dominick Ford. A consistent three-year starter for the Evangels, Ford scored 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field while also converting all four of his free throw attempts. The 6-5 senior forward from McKinney, Texas also yanked down a team-best seven rebounds. Ford is currently looking to get his 2019-20 shooting touch back for the 2021 portion of the season after going 0-for-8 from range during the first four games of the season. During last year's SAC Championship run, Ford set the program's NAIA era three-point shooting percentage record after knocking down 50-for-102 (49 percent) from behind the arc.

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