OKLAHOMA CITY –
DaRaun Clark left a big impression in his MACU men's basketball debut as the redshirt sophomore guard scored 32 points and tied Evangels legend Charlie Shorter in the MACU record book with 15 made free throws to lead the team to a 107-98 victory over Kansas Christian at the Paycom Center on Thursday.
TOP PERFORMERS
- DaRaun Clark – 32 Points, 7-14 FG, 3-7 3FG, 15-17 FT, 3 Reb
- Seth Hurd – 18 Points, 9-10 FG, 6 REB, 2 Assists
- Quentin Woodson – 10 Points, 3-6 FG, 4-4 FT, 2 Reb
GAME SUMMARY
- First Half
- Kansas Christian jumped out to a 4-2 lead through the first 1:27, but a Seth Hurd jumper on the ensuing possession ignited an 11-point Evangels run as a Tarrence Gaines three-pointer swelled the MACU advantage to 13-4 with 16:11 left.
- A DaRaun Clark three-ball at the 15:39 mark gave MACU its first double-digit lead of the contest at 16-6, but the Falcons stormed back with a nine-unanswered streak, closing it to a 16-15 game on a Jamal Clark lay-in with 13:10 to go.
- Back-to-back layups by Quentin Woodson helped push the MACU edge back out to five, but KCC eventually took its first lead at 28-27 since the opening minutes on an Elezar Conley fastbreak layup off a Jordan Jahreese steal with 8:18 until half.
- MACU took back a 33-28 lead off a six-point swing started by another Clark three, but the Falcons once again took back the momentum with a 12-2 run to take their largest lead of the game at 40-35 on a Jay Washington layup at the 4:12 mark.
- Mid-America Christian finished the half strong, closing out with a 11-2 run over the final 3:24 as the Evangels took a 48-44 lead into the halftime break.
- Second Half
- Mid-America Christian rebuilt its double-digit lead right out of the gate as Jasiah Lewis buried a three from the top of the key to jumpstart an 8-2 Evangels surge capped off on a Clark three-point play with 17:51 to go to bring it to a 56-46 game.
- After KCC's Jamal Clark nailed a three to close the gap to seven, the Evangels swung back with seven straight off a double technical foul by the Eagles as Clark buried five free throws in the run to go with a Seth Hurd layup to push the MACU advantage to 63-51 at the 16:50 mark.
- A Hurd layup with 15:12 left gave MACU its largest lead of the game at 68-53, but the Falcons fought their way back by scoring 11 of the next 13 points as a Jamal Clark hoop-and-harm brought the score to 70-64 with 13:14 on the clock.
- Mid-America Christian slowly built its lead back up over the next six minutes before a Clark layup in the paint pushed it to a 92-77 edge at 7:11.
- Kansas Christian stayed within striking distance, bringing the MACU advantage down to seven on two different occasions, but a Hurd lay-in with 30 seconds left capped off a 107-98 final.
GAME NOTES
- Overall, Mid-America Christian put together a stellar shooting performance as the Evangels converted 34-of-61 (55.7 percent) from the field, including 10-for-23 (43.5 percent) from the three-point arc and efficiently made 29-of-34 (85.3 percent) from the foul stripe.
- Defensively, the Evangels limited Kansas Christian to 38-for-87 (43.7 percent) from the floor while going 6-for-19 (31.6 percent) from three and 16-of-24 (66.7 percent) from the line.
- While MACU was able to out-rebound the Falcons 43-42 for the game, the Evangels struggled to keep KCC off the offensive glass as Kansas Christian yanked down 26 offensive rebounds.
- Even with DaRaun Clark's sensational debut with the Evangels, MACU was able to get balanced scoring across the board with 10 different players getting into the book and nine players scored six or more points.
- Clark's 32-point effort was the most points scored by an Evangels player since Terrance Jones scored 34 points in a 92-84 overtime win over No. 8 Bethel (Kan.) inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Nov. 6, 2021. Overall, Clark shot 7-for-14 from the field and 3-of-7 from three.
- By going 15-of-17 from the free throw line, Clark tied Charlie Shorter for the most made free throws in a game when the MACU Player of the Decade went 15-for-15 from the charity stripe to finish with 22 points in leading the Evangels to an 84-75 win at home against Science & Arts (Okla.) on Jan. 19, 2012.
- Junior forward Seth Hurd also had a strong showing in his MACU debut, pouring in 18 points on a blistering 9-for-10 from the field and also ripped down six rebounds.
- Sophomore forward Quentin Woodson was the only other Evangel to crack into double-figure scoring with 10 points on 3-of-6 from the floor and 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
- Redshirt sophomore guard Tarrence Gaines led the MACU rebounding efforts with nine boards to go with seven points and also came up big defensively with two blocked shots and a steal while Jasiah Lewis dished out a team-high five assists along with nine points.
- Mid-America Christian kept its impressive season-opening wins streak alive as the Evangels have now won 14 straight season-openers. MACU also improved to 2-0 all-time against Kansas Christian in the all-time series.
UP NEXT
- From one opener to another, Mid-America Christian will play its official home-opener on Saturday as the Evangels will host Ozark Christian (Mo.) for a 4 p.m. tip inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
