FORT WORTH, Texas – The Mid-America Christian men's basketball team utilized a late second half surge and held off Baker behind some stellar free throw shooting as the Evangels came away with an 82-75 win at the Texas Wesleyan Classic inside the Sid Richardson Center on Friday night.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Terrance Jones – 28 Points, 8-15 FG, 11-12 FT, 6 Reb, 4 Steals
• Caleb Riggs – 14 Points, 5-7 FG, 2-3 3FG, 2-2 FT
• Isaiah Hammons – 13 Points, 4-9 FG, 5-5 FT, 8 Reb, 4 Assists
• Quentin Woodson – 13 Points, 6-12 FG, 5 Reb, 2 Steals

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian struggled offensively at the start as Baker jumped out to a 6-0 advantage through the first 3:40 before Caleb Riggs drained a three before a Quentin Woodson put-back brought it back to within one at 6-5 with 14:56 to go.
  • The Wildcats briefly pushed their lead back out to five following a 6-2 spurt, but Terrance Jones stemmed the tide with a triple to start an eight-unanswered streak, capped off on a Woodson three to make it a 15-12 MACU edge with 11:41 left.
  • The two teams battled back and forth over the next few minutes with the lead changing hands four times before BU surged back in-front off of a 6-0 run to set the score to 26-21 with 6:16 remaining.
  • Following a Woodson score in the paint, Baker built up an eight-point cushion at 31-23 behind Michael Brooks three and a Jalen Patterson jumpshot with 3:12 to go.
  • MACU closed the gap over the final three minutes as a Jones three-point play started a 7-2 run to bring the deficit to within three at 33-30 at the halftime break.
• Second Half
  • The Wildcats briefly pushed its advantage back out to six on BU's first possession off another Brooks three, but the Evangels quickly responded by scoring on their next four possessions. A pair of Isaiah Hammons scores to go with a Caleb Riggs three and two Jones free throws gave MACU the 39-38 edge with 17:31 left.
  • The next eight minutes that transpired was a back-and-forth battle that featured eight ties and three lead changes. A Justin Batts free throw with 9:29 to go gave BU its final lead of the contest as Jones finished strong for another three-point play to give MACU the 55-53 advantage with 9:05 on the clock.
  • Jones' personal seven-point run extended the Evangels' lead to 59-53 at the 7:37 mark before BU was finally able to snap a 4:12 field goal drought before Omar Boone came back on the ensuing possession with a cold-blooded second chance three to cushion the MACU lead to 62-55 with 6:57 to go.
  • Baker was able to chip away over the next few minutes as Patterson's lay-in brought it to within one at 64-63. However, Jasiah Lewis buried a big three on the following possession, jumpstarting a 12-2 MACU surge as a pair of Hammons free throws with 45 seconds left gave MACU its largest lead of the contest at 76-65.
  • The Wildcats tried to battle back in the final minute, outscoring MACU 10-4 over a 40-second stretch but the Evangels lead was two large as a pair of Riggs free throws sealed the 82-75 win.

GAME NOTES

• The two teams shot relatively even with the Evangels knocking down 28-of-64 (43.8 percent) from the floor, 6-for-14 (42.9 percent) from three and the Wildcats shooting 28-of-60 (46.7 percent) and 7-for-20 (35 percent) from beyond the arc.
• Mid-America Christian's ability to not just get to the foul line, but convert on its opportunities made the biggest difference in the contest. Overall, MACU shot 20-of-22 (90.9 percent) from the charity stripe as a team while Baker mustered just 12-for-14 (85.7 percent).
• Terrance Jones continued his offensive tear on Friday night, scoring a game-high 28 points on 8-for-15 from the floor and knocked down a blistering 11-for-12 from the charity stripe. Jones also finished with six boards and led the defensive efforts with four steals.
• Caleb Riggs had a very efficient shooting day for MACU, knocking down 5-of-7 from the field and 2-for-3 from three along with a pair of free throws for 14 points. Isaiah Hammons also effectively poured in 13 points to go with a team-leading eight boards.
• Freshman forward Quentin Woodson provided a spark off the MACU bench with a career-best 13 points, marking back-to-back games he's broken into double-figures.
• With the win, the Evangels improved to 6-0 on the season and are 3-0 in games away from the Gaulke Activity Center. Baker meanwhile fell to 2-3 on the year.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will close out the Texas Wesleyan Classic tomorrow as the Evangels will tip-off at 2 p.m. against the University of the Southwest (N.M.)