DALLAS – The Mid-America Christian men's basketball team bounced back from a tough loss on Saturday with a balanced scoring effort in an 85-71 road win inside the Singing Hills Rec Center on Monday night.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Isaiah Hammons – 20 Points, 7-13 FG, 5-7 FT, 4 Reb, 4 Assists, 2 Steals
• Tony Dorsey – 14 Points, 6-12 FG, 2-3 FT, 4 Reb
• Kendall Scott – 13 Points, 4-7 FG, 2-3 3FG, 3-4 FT, 7 Reb, 4 Assists, 2 Steals

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian and UNT Dallas traded early buckets as the Evangels held a one-point lead through the first three minutes before back-to-back buckets by Tony Dorsey pushed the MACU edge out to 9-4 with 16:06 remaining.
  • Larry Rusk's layup at the 15:16 mark briefly closed it to a one-possession game before a Jasiah Lewis steal led to an Isaiah Hammons fastbreak layup before Hammons steal led to a Lewis pull-up jumper to extend the MACU advantage to 13-6 with 13:20 left.
  • The Trailblazers trimmed away at the Evangels lead to four following a 6-3 surge as Jevon Burton's jump-shot brought it to 16-12 with just under 12 minutes to go.
  • The Evangels defense shut down UNTD over the next five minutes, holding the Trailblazers scoreless over the stretch as a Caleb Riggs three-pointer followed by a midrange jumper with 8:35 left swelled the Evangels' lead to 23-12.
  • UNTD's Christian Plummer scored the next five points to close it to a two-possession game at 23-17.
  • After Lewis was fouled on a three-point shot with 3:14 to go, the senior guard buried three free throws to jumpstart an eight-unanswered run as a Hammons three-point play stretched the advantage to 34-19 with 1:50 on the clock.
  • Following two Rusk free throws, the Evangels closed out the half with a string of six straight as Dorsey's pull-up jumper just before the half pushed the lead out to 40-21 at the break.
• Second Half
  • The Evangels opened the second half with an 8-4 run as three-pointers on Kendall Scott and Toni Kumanovic on back-to-back possessions set the score to 48-25 with 17:46 left.
  • MACU maintained a 20-plus point lead for the next four minutes before Burton's lay-in with 13:02 to go knocked it down to a 55-36 edge with 13:02 remaining.
  • With just over 11 minutes to go, a Hammons triple ignited a nine-unanswered run before a Tarrence Gaines three-ball with 9:55 left gave MACU a 70-43 advantage with 9:55 on the clock.
  • The Trailblazers were able to contain MACU to just one point over the next six minutes while stringing together a 15-1 surge as a Rusk layup at the 4:45 mark closed it to 71-58.
  • A Scott three-ball ended the UNTD run, but another six-unanswered scored by the Trailblazers brought it to 74-64 on two Rusk free throws with 2:52 remaining.
  • A Hammons three-point play started an 8-3 MACU run before Riggs knocked down a crucial three-pointer from the top of the key with 1:14 left to stretch the MACU lead back out to 82-67.
  • UNTD was unable to knock the MACU advantage to below 12 the rest of the way as a pair of Lewis free throws with 36 seconds left sealed the 85-71 win.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian offensively shot 29-for-64 (45.3 percent) from the floor and 9-of-27 (33.3 percent) from three while efficiently knocking down 18-for-23 (78.3 percent) from the free throw line.
• UNT Dallas finished the contest 23-of-57 (40.4 percent), but was held to just 3-for-15 (20 percent) from three-point range. The Trailblazers utilized strong free throw shooting to hang in the game, converting on 22-of-28 (78.6 percent) attempts.
• UNTD held a slight edge in the rebounding battle with 36 boards to 34 for the Evangels, but MACU was able to win the turnover battle with 15 giveaways while forcing 17 UNTD miscues.
• Isaiah Hammons led a balanced offensive effort for the Evangels with five players scoring in double-figures, turning in 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting, 5-for-7 from the line and pulled down four rebounds, dished out four assists and tallied two steals.
• In his return to the lineup after missing Saturday's game, Tony Dorsey made a big impact by scoring 14 points on 6-for-12 from the field along with four boards.
• Kendall Scott added 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting, including 2-for-3 from three and 3-of-4 from the line to go with a team-leading seven boards, four assists and two steals.
• Jasiah Lewis pitched in 12 points on 3-of-6 from the floor and 5-for-5 from the charity stripe to go with five rebounds, four assists and a team-leading three steals.
• Caleb Riggs rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting, 3-of-7 from three along with a pair of steals.
• In the first season as Sooner Athletic Conference foes, Mid-America Christian swept the season series from UNT Dallas after notching an 85-74 win inside the Gaulke Activity Center back on Jan. 3.
• With the win, Mid-America Christian moved back to .500 in SAC play at 10-10 with a 17-11 overall record while the Trailblazers fell to 11-16 overall and 7-13 in conference play.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will back in the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday night for its final home game of the regular season. The Evangels take on Central Christian on Senior Night with a 7:45 p.m. tip-off after honoring their six seniors prior to the start of the contest.