OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian men's basketball team was able to battle back to get its first Sooner Athletic Conference win of the season on Monday night as the Evangels came away with an 85-74 victory over UNT-Dallas in the programs' first ever meeting inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Isaiah Hammons – 14 Points, 4-7 FG, 5-7 FT, 7 Assists, 4 Steals, 3 Reb
• Omar Boone – 14 Points, 6-10 FG, 2 Steals
• Carlos Slaughter – 14 Points, 5-8 FG, 3 Reb, 2 Blocks

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • The Evangels struggled on the offensive end through the first few minutes as MACU scored just one point on a Carlos Slaughter free throw, allowing UNT-Dallas to jump out to an early 4-1 advantage.
  • Mid-America Christian was able to claim its first lead by utilizing an 8-4 run as a Tony Dorsey three-pointer made it a 9-8 contest with 14:46 left.
  • MACU and UNTD exchanged leads five times over the next few minutes before threes by Trevon Stewart and Demaryon Thornton gave the Trailblazers the 18-13 edge with 10:51 to go.
  • Omar Boone came up with a triple on the ensuing possession to ignite a seven-point Evangels surge as a pair of Isaiah Hammonds free throws with 9:10 left pushed MACU back in-front 20-18.
  • UNT-Dallas turned up the defense over the next minute, forcing a pair of MACU turnovers resulting in fastbreak scores during a six-unanswered run, pushing the Trailblazers into a 24-20 lead with 8:33 to go and forcing the Evangels to call a timeout.
  • The Evangels battled back to tie it up off a pair of Kendall Scott free throws and a Terrance Jones tip-in with 7:21 remaining, but UNT-Dallas reclaimed control on the ensuing possession Rodrick Gaines buried a three late in the shot clock to make it 27-24.
  • UNTD built as large as a five-point lead on a Christian Plummer jumper with 3:19 to go and then again on a pair of Larry Rusk free throws at the 1:07 mark to make it 38-33.
  • Toni Kumanovic was able to send MACU into the half with a tie game after burying a pair of free throws on the ensuing possession and then after getting a defensive stop, Kumanovic buried a three with 32 seconds to go.
• Second Half
  • Mid-America Christian started the second half strong as Slaughter buried a jumper on the opening possession before a Boone steal led to a Dorsey jumper in the paint pushed the Evangels' edge to 42-38 just 50 seconds in.
  • UNT-Dallas kept it to within two possessions over the next three minutes, but MACU got some breathing room behind a 9-1 run, capped off by a pair of Quentin Woodson layups at the 15:05 and 14:19 marks to make it a 52-43 contest.
  • A Vernon Johnson layup on the following possession briefly ended the run, but Hammons gave MACU its first double-digit lead of the contest at 55-45 just two possessions later by burying a three with 13:06 left.
  • Following a pair of Rusk free throws that knocked the differential back down to single digits, another Woodson lay-in started an 11-1 Evangels run before Boone wrapped it on a layup in the paint to set the score to 66-48 with 9:07 remaining.
  • UNT-Dallas put together a big response over the next two minutes by outscoring the Evangels 10-0, including six free throws during the run to close it back to single digits at 66-58 with 7:13 on the clock.
  • A Caleb Riggs layup pushed the MACU edge back out to double-digits, but another four unanswered by the Trailblazers closed it to 68-62 at the 5:58 mark.
  • Slaughter's layup on the following possession helped swing the momentum back in MACU's favor as the Evangels rattled off five unanswered before Hammons laid it in off a Dorsey steal, extending the advantage to 73-62 with 4:27 remaining.
  • UNT-Dallas scored the next four from the foul line, but that would be the Trailblazers final push as Slaughter finished with a layup and a three over the next two possessions to swell the MACU lead back to double-figures at 78-66 with 3:02 left.
  • The Trailblazers were unable to knock the MACU edge below double-digits the rest of the way as the Evangels held on for the 85-74 win.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian put together its second-best shooting performance of the season, knocking down 30-of-53 (56.6 percent) from the floor and went 7-for-16 (43.8 percent) from beyond the arc. The one area where the Evangels struggled was from the foul line, converting just 18-for-32 (56.3 percent).
• On the defensive end, the Evangels limited UNT-Dallas to 23-for-51 (45.1 percent) shooting and 5-for-17 (29.4 percent) from three, but were able to keep it close from the foul line by knocking down 23-of-33 (69.7 percent).
• While UNT-Dallas controlled the glass by a 33-30 edge, the Evangels won the turnover battle by forcing 21 UNTD miscues while MACU committed 18.
• Mid-America Christian was able to utilize its balance on the offensive end as seven players finished with eight or more points.
• Three different Evangels finished with a team-high 14 points. Isaiah Hammons provided a spark off the bench with 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting to go with a team-high seven assists and four steals. Omar Boone tallied his 14 on 6-of-10 shooting while Carlos Slaughter scored 13 of his 14 in the second half on 5-for-8 from the field to go with a pair of blocked shots.
• Tony Dorsey rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 points on 3-of-4 from the floor and 5-for-7 from the charity stripe while also dishing out seven assists to go with four steals.
• Mid-America Christian was able to snap its six-game Sooner Athletic Conference losing streak with the win, improving to 8-7 overall while UNT-Dallas fell to 5-9 overall and 1-6 in league play.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now prepare to face its crosstown rival as the Evangels will travel to Abe Lemons Arena on Thursday for a 7:45 p.m. tip-off against Oklahoma City.