GOODWELL, Okla. – After going winless in the month of November, the MACU men's basketball team was able to pick up its first win in 32 days as the Evangels fended off Oklahoma Panhandle State by a score of 73-70 inside Anchor D Arena on Thursday night.
TOP PERFORMERS
GAME SUMMARY
- First Half
- Mid-America Christian (3-5, 1-2 SAC) was stout through the first two minutes as Tarrence Gaines and Jaylon Barnett opened the scoring with a pair of field goals while the Evangels came up strong on the defensive end to jump out to a 4-0 lead.
- A Rayquan Elliott three ignited a 10-2 OPSU run that was capped off on a Justin Pile lay-in with 15:56 left to make it a 10-6 Oklahoma Panhandle State (1-8, 0-3 SAC) lead.
- After an Eylan Goodwyn layup closed it to a one-point game, Panhandle State went on another nine-unanswered run to take their largest lead of the game at 19-9 at the 10:25 mark on Elliott's third triple of the half.
- MACU put together a powerful run over the next five minutes as a Jonathan Alexandre jumper jumpstarted a 13-unanswered streak that was capped off on a DaRaun Clark three-pointer with just under six minutes remaining to make it a 22-19 Evangels' edge.
- It was a back-and-forth battle over the next five minutes as MACU held a one-to-two possession lead over the stretch until OPSU's Kaleb Stephens buried a three to tie it up at 31-all with 1:26 to go.
- The Evangels finished the half strong as Barnett buried a jumper on the ensuing possession to put MACU back in-front. Following a Travonte Doolittle block and rebound, Gaines put the Evangels ahead by two possessions with a lay-in with 30 seconds to go before Doolittle buried one of two foul shots with two seconds left to send MACU into the break with a 36-31 advantage.
- Second Half
- MACU got off to a stellar start to the second half as the Evangels opened with eight unanswered points with Goodwyn pitching in half of the scoring, stretching the Evangels' edge to its largest of the contest at 45-32 with 17:01 left.
- Oklahoma Panhandle State caught fire over the next four minutes as the Aggies poured in 11 straight points with Elliott's layup closing it to a one-possession game at 45-43 with 13:48 to go.
- The Evangels defensively did not break over the next five minutes as MACU gradually worked its lead back out to eight on a Clark triple at the 7:38 mark.
- MACU maintained a two-to-three possession lead over a three-minute stretch as Clark knocked down a pair of free throws with 4:30 left to make it a 67-59 game.
- OPSU chipped away at the Evangels advantage over the next four minutes as the Aggies eventually worked it down a one-point game on Elliott's hoop-and-harm at the nine second mark to set the score to 71-70.
- After Clark was fouled on the ensuing in-bound play, the redshirt sophomore guard buried a pair of clutch foul shots while the Evangels defense clamped down by preventing the Aggies from taking a potential game-tying shot to secure the 73-70 victory.
GAME NOTES
- Mid-America Christian shot the ball efficiently from the field by converting on 26-of-55 (47.3 percent) from the field, but were held to just 5-for-14 (35.7 percent) shooting from three while converting on 16-of-25 (64 percent) free throws.
- OPSU was also able to shoot effectively from the field by going 23-for-51 (45.1 percent), including 6-for-15 (40 percent) from three and knocked down 18-of-21 (85.7 percent) of its foul shots.
- The Evangels held a slim 32-31 edge on the glass while also winning the turnover battle by a 10-to-12 margin.
- Bench scoring was a huge factor for MACU in the contest as the Evangels' bench outscored OPSU's 39-8.
- DaRaun Clark led the Evangels offensively with 21 points and despite shooting just 5-of-14 from the field, Clark was huge from the three-point arc and the free throw line as he went 2-for-5 from range and 9-for-11 from the charity stripe.
- Tarrence Gaines was the only other MACU player to crack into double-digit scoring with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting to go with four boards.
- MACU as a team was balanced in the scoring department with five players scoring eight or more points. Conner Calavan came off the MACU bench to score nine points after going 3-for-4 from behind the arc while Jaylon Barnett and Eylan Goodwyn each tallied eight points apiece.
- Goodwyn led the Evangels on the glass with five rebounds while Barnett led the distribution efforts with three of MACU's nine assists.
- The victory for MACU was its first since defeating Ozark Christian (Mo.) 105-100 inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Oct. 29.
- The Evangels avenged a 61-58 loss they suffered to Oklahoma Panhandle State last season on Nov. 18, 2021. Overall, the Evangels are 5-4 all-time against OPSU and have won four of the last five meetings since the 2019-20 season.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will face a tough challenge on Saturday as the Evangels will head down to Plainview, Texas to take on No. 16 Wayland Baptist. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m. inside the Hutcherson Center.
