PARK CITY, Kan. – A short-handed Mid-America Christian men's basketball team gave a strong challenge to No. 1 seed and the second overall seed William Penn, but ultimately fell by a final score of 85-75 in the second round of the NAIA National Championship Tournament at the Hartman Arena on Saturday.

TOP PERFORMERS

• Tony Dorsey – 24 PTS, 5-13 FG, 13-18 FT, 3 REB, 2 AST
• Carlos Slaughter – 15 PTS, 5-8 FG, 2-3 3FG, 3-5 FT, 6 REB, 1 AST

GAME SUMMARY

• 1^st Half
  • In a low scoring game early on, Mid-America Christian jumped out to a 6-2 lead through the first 2:48 off layups from Derrick Magiya and Jasiah Lewis along with a pair of Tony Dorsey free throws.
  • William Penn rattled off six unanswered of their own to take an 8-6 advantage before Marvin Lowe converted a three-point play to take back a 9-8 edge with 13:58 remaining.
  • The two squads swapped leads four more times over the next five minutes before the Evangels went on a 6-2 run to take their largest lead of the game at 23-17 on a three-point play from Damarius Brooks with 6:01 remaining.
  • After Carlos Slaughter knocked down a three to snap a four unanswered Statesmen run with 4:46 to go, WPU closed out the half with a 13-4 run to take a 34-30 advantage into the halftime break.
• 2^nd Half
  • Dorsey knocked down a pair of free throws to close the gap to two at 34-32 just 35 seconds in, but William Penn countered with an 11-2 run over the next 2:12 to take their first double-digit lead of the game at 45-34.
  • Mid-America Christian managed to chip away at the WPU lead, rattling off five in a row on a Caleb Riggs pull-up jumper followed by another Slaughter three with 11:01 left to bring it to 54-48.
  • The Statesmen rattled off six unanswered, capped off on a Josh Watkins three to reclaim a double-digit advantage at 63-51 with 8:46 to go.
  • WPU maintained a three-to-four possession edge for the next four minutes before MACU strung together a seven-point run on layups from Dorsey and Slaughter before Riggs splashed a three to cut the deficit 72-68 with 3:13 remaining.
  • William Penn swung back with six unanswered of their own during a 13-4 run to take its largest lead of the game at 85-72.
  • Dorsey splashed a three with 18 seconds left for MACU's final bucket of the 2020-21 season to end the final score of 85-75.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian struggled to slow down William Penn in the second half, as the Statesmen shot 15-for-26 (57.7 percent) from the field and knocked down 17-of-27 (63 percent) from the foul line over the final 20 minutes to finish 47.4 percent from the field, but just 24 percent from three-point range.
• The Evangels struggled on the offensive end, finishing the contest with 21-for-62 (33.9 percent) from the floor, 5-for-25 (20 percent) from three while converting 28-of-41 (68.3 percent) from the charity stripe.
• William Penn dominated the Evangels on the glass by a 52-36 margin, but the MACU defense was able to force 19 Statesmen turnovers while committing 16 of its own.
• Tony Dorsey led the Evangels offensively, finishing with 24 points on 5-for-13 shooting while aggressively getting to the free throw line. His 13 made free throws is tied for the fourth-most in a single game while his 18 attempts sit only behind teammate Terrance Jones for the most attempted in a game during the NAIA era (2007-present).
• Senior forward Carlos Slaughter turned in a season-high 15 points on 5-of-8 from the field and 2-for-3 from the three-point arc to go with a team-high six rebounds.
• With the defeat, Mid-America Christian ends the 2020-21 season with a 12-5 overall record as the .706 winning percentage ranks as the third-highest since the program joined the NAIA.