OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian men's basketball team had to overcome a double-digit second half deficit, but the Evangels made a late push to come away with a 73-65 win over Langston inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Saturday to close out the first half of Sooner Athletic Conference play.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Isaiah Hammons – 26 Points, 8-12 FG, 8-12 FT, 8 Reb, 2 Assists
• Terrance Jones – 20 Points, 8-12 FG, 4-4 FT, 4 Reb
• Tony Dorsey – 11 Points, 5-11 FG, 4 Reb, 2 Assists, 3 Steals

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Both teams struggled on the offensive end in the early going as Langston jumped out to an early four-point advantage before an Isaiah Hammons and-one at the 15:46 mark closed it to a 6-5 game.
  • A steal and fastbreak layup by LU's Armani Allen started a 10-2 run as Lacorian Ballard's jumper expanded the Lions lead to 16-7 with just over 13 minutes left.
  • Mid-America Christian chipped away at the LU edge over the next four minutes as Hammons nailed a fastbreak three-pointer with 9:25 left to trim the deficit to 20-15.
  • At the eight-minute mark, Ballard converted a layup in the paint to start a string of seven-unanswered for Langston off a Xavier Easter three and a Carlos Coppage jumper, giving the Lions their largest lead of the contest at 27-15.
  • The Evangels managed to knock the edge down below double-digits off a Terrance Jones jumper and a free throw apiece from Quentin Woodson and Hammons to make it 27-19 with 5:12 to go, but Langston managed to hold at least a three-possession lead the rest of the way.
  • LU eventually swelled its lead back to 12 at 37-25 on a Naythan Shaw-Clark lay-in with 1:07 left, but the Evangels made a push back in the final minute.
  • With 58 seconds left, Hammons finished strong in the paint before Jones got a challenging running-jumper to fall on the ensuing possession to close it to 37-29. MACU got a big defensive stop on the final possession to keep the deficit to single-digits at the break.
• Second Half
  • The Lions once again started strong to start the half, tallying six of the first 10 points to push back out to a 43-33 advantage off a Ballard jumper with 16:50 remaining.
  • Mid-America Christian shut down Langston over the a 6:42 stretch, limiting the Lions to just two points as Tony Dorsey ripped down a defensive board and went the other way for a layup to start a 9-0 surge.
  • The Evangels wrapped up the run with two Jasiah Lewis steals that led to two Hammons scores off a fastbreak dunk and layup on subsequent possessions, trimming the Lions' edge to 43-42 with 14:20 remaining.
  • Following a steal and fastbreak layup for Ballard, Hammons tied the game up at 45-all on a three-pointer from the right wing with 11:55 on the clock.
  • Even though Armani Allen's three with just over 10 minutes left broke the tie, Mid-America Christian swung back to take its first lead of the contest off a Quentin Woodson layup followed by a Dorsey steal leading to a Jones layup, setting the score to 49-48 with 9:23 to go.
  • Langston found a groove from the three-point arc over the next four minutes as the Lions went on a 13-6 run to pull their lead back out to 61-55 off a Xavier Easter triple from the top of the key with just 5:08 left in the contest.
  • The Evangels rallied back with seven unanswered as a Dorsey jumper followed by a steal and fastbreak lay-in for the senior guard cut the deficit to two before Jones put MACU back in-front with a three-point play at the 3:35 mark to set the score to 62-61.
  • While an Allen three-point play at the other end with 2:54 to go put Langston back in-front, the Lions were not able to hold the lead for long. On MACU's next possession, Jones tied it on a layup in the paint before a Tony Dorsey steal led to a fastbreak lay-in for Hammons to give MACU the 66-64 edge with 1:58 left.
  • On LU's next possession, Kendall Scott ripped down a strong board before sending an outlet ahead to Jasiah Lewis. On the break, Lewis made a nifty pass to Dorsey at the baseline as he finished the lay-in and drew the foul to push the Evangels' edge to two possessions at 68-64 with 1:32 to go.
  • The MACU defense would only allow one Lions free throw the rest of the way as the Evangels eventually closed out the 73-65 win on an outlet to Scott from Lewis with 13 seconds left.

GAME NOTES

• It was a tale of two halves for each of the clubs. While Mid-America Christian shot just 9-for-29 (31 percent) and 1-of-9 (11.1 percent) from three in the first half, the Evangels poured in 19-for-27 (70.4 percent) in the second half despite still struggling from the arc at 1-of-4 (25 percent).
• Langston also had a reversal of fortunes at the halftime break. After shooting 16-of-32 (50 percent) from the field in the first half, the Lions could only muster 11-for-30 (36.7 percent) in the second half.
• While Mid-America Christian was able to get to the line often, the Evangels were only able to convert 15-for-26 (57.7 percent). However, MACU was well disciplined on the defensive end despite the free throw woes, only allowing Langston to attempt eight free throws (5-for-8, 62.5 percent).
• Mid-America Christian held a slight edge in the rebounding battle at 35-to-33 while committing four less turnovers at 16 to 20 for the Lions.
• Senior guard Isaiah Hammons led the Evangels offense by recording his second straight 20-point game, tallying 26 points on 8-for-12 shooting and was the only Evangel to make a three-pointer by going 2-for-3 from beyond the arc. Hammons also knocked down 8-of-12 from the foul line to go with a team-high eight rebounds.
• Terrance Jones also had a very efficient day from the field, scoring 20 points on 8-for-12 from the field and 4-for-4 from the charity stripe to go with four boards.
• Tony Dorsey was the only other Evangel to break into double-figures with 11 points on 5-for-11 from the field to go with four rebounds, three steals and two assists.
• Senior guard Jasiah Lewis in his first home game back after missing three straight provided a strong spark on the defensive end, recording a team-high four steals to go with six rebounds. Lewis also added four points on the offensive end of the floor.
• Armani Allen led the Langston scoring efforts with 17 points on 7-for-14 from the floor, 2-for-2 from three and pulled down eight boards.
• Mid-America Christian improved to 11-1 all-time against Langston with the win and have been victorious in the last seven in the series.
• While the first half of Sooner Athletic Conference play was rough for the Evangels, Mid-America Christian finished the slate strong by winning four of the last five conference contests to improve to 4-7 in league play and 11-8 overall. Langston fell to 1-16 overall and 0-12 against SAC competition with the loss.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will continue its four-game home stand on Thursday, Jan. 20 as the Evangels will host Wayland Baptist for a 7:45 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center.