LANGSTON, Okla. – In the Mid-America Christian men's basketball team's final game of the regular season, junior guard
Caleb Riggs was electric from behind the three-point arc as he tied a program record nine threes to lead the Evangels to a 98-63 road win at Langston inside the C.F. Gayles Arena on Saturday.
TOP PERFORMERS
GAME SUMMARY
- First Half
- Langston kept it close through the first three minutes before a Naythan Shaw-Clark field goal closed it to 5-4 with 16:29 to go.
- Caleb Riggs' first three-ball of the game on the ensuing possession ignited the Evangels offense, as MACU rattled off a 9-2 run as a Jasiah Lewis bucket made it a 15-6 contest with 14:37 remaining.
- Following another Shaw-Clark score, Lewis and Riggs continued to be a nearly unstoppable tandem as MACU went on an 18-unanswered surge. The pair scored nine of the Evangels' first 11 during the run before Quentin Woodson poured in the final five as his free throw with 8:40 left made it a 33-8 MACU advantage.
- Lacorian Ballard's three at 8:25 mark snapped a five-plus minute scoreless streak while starting an 8-0 LU run as Sam Battle Jr.'s three-ball made it a 33-16 contest with 6:04 to go.
- The Evangels finished the half strong, as Tarrence Gaines first field started a 10-unanswered run as MACU outscored the Lions 14-3 over the final 5:30 to take a commanding 47-19 lead into the break.
- Second Half
- Despite giving up the first bucket of the half, Mid-America Christian quickly responded by scoring 11 of the next 13 points with Kendall Scott stretching the Evangels advantage to 58-23 just four minutes in.
- The Lions quickly scored the next five, but were unable to shrink the deficit to below 30 until Battle's tally at the 10:17 mark made it a 68-40 game.
- On the next possession, Riggs started an incredible run by knocking down four three-pointers in a two-minute stretch. His record-tying ninth three gave MACU its largest lead of the game at 80-42 with 8:19 left to go.
- The most LU could do to cut into the MACU advantage was Shaw-Clark's field goal with 3:38 remaining to make it an 86-53 contest.
- Late threes by Konner Davis and Gaines allowed MACU to push the edge back out to 38 at 98-60 before Aren Thomas knocked down a three just before the end of the game to wrap up the 98-63 final.
GAME NOTES
- Mid-America Christian was efficient on the offensive end, shooting 41-of-75 (54.7 percent) from the field and 13-for-33 (39.4 percent) from three-point range. Meanwhile, the MACU defense held Langston to only 25-for-67 (37.3 percent) shooting and 7-of-24 (29.2 percent) from beyond the arc.
- The Evangels were able to win the turnover battle by a 13-to-19 edge while outrebounding the Lions 45-35.
- Caleb Riggs finished the contest with a career-high 33 points on a blistering 12-for-21, which included a 9-for-18 clip from the three-point arc. The nine three-pointers made tied the record mark set by Semar Farris on Feb. 6, 2014 against Wayland Baptist before Olajuwon Garner matched it against Northern New Mexico on Nov. 25, 2016. The 18 attempts also broke Garner's record of 15 set against Haskell (Kan.) on Nov. 18, 2016.
- After struggling on the offensive end for most of the season, Jasiah Lewis continued his hot streak by notching his fifth double-digit scoring game in the last six games. Lewis finished his career-high at MACU with 18 points on 8-for-19 from the field to go with five assists and two steals.
- Kendall Scott rounded out the double-figure scorers with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting to go with 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.
- Tony Dorsey was MACU's top distributor by notching his seventh game with at least seven assists in a 10-game stretch, dishing out eight assists while committing just two turnovers.
- By getting the win, Mid-America Christian wrapped up the regular season with a 19-11 overall record and a 12-10 mark in SAC play to finish in a three-way tie for fifth in the conference standings.
- After suffering an 80-58 loss to No. 6 Southwestern Assemblies of God on Jan. 1 that dropped the Evangels to 7-7 overall and 0-6 in SAC play, MACU went on to win 12 of its next 16 games and never lost consecutive games during the stretch.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will now prepare for Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament play as the Evangels will enter the tourney as the No. 7 seed and will host 10th-seeded UNT Dallas in an Opening Round game at the Gaulke Activity Center on Tuesday, Feb. 22. The game is slated for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
