EL RENO, Okla. – The MACU men's basketball team struggled to keep pace with Oklahoma City's red-hot shooting in the Pit at Redlands Community College on Saturday as the Evangels fell 92-68 to wrap-up the first half of Sooner Athletic Conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS
GAME SUMMARY
- First Half
- Oklahoma City (9-8, 7-4 SAC) opened the contest by scoring eight of the first 12 points as a Kori Guest offensive board and putback made it an 8-4 game with 17:20 to go, but the Evangels quickly tied it up on a DaRaun Clark jumper before Quentin Woodson came up with a steal to lead to a Tarrence Gaines fastbreak layup with 16:50 remaining.
- A pair of Avery Jackson three-pointers sparked a 13-3 Stars streak as Brandon Jackson capped the run by snagging a defensive board and going coast-to-coast for the transition layup to give OCU its largest lead of the first half at 21-11 with 12:11 on the clock.
- Trevonte Doolittle stemmed the tide by scoring five straight points with a jumper and a three-bomb on back-to-back possessions before Conner Calavan canned a three with just over 10 minutes remaining to close it to a 21-19 game with just over minutes left.
- After a pair of Parker Jones foul shots briefly pushed the OCU lead back out to four, Jonathan Alexandre propelled MACU into the lead for the first time in the game following a Seth Hurd score by nailing back-to-back triples to wrap-up an 8-0 run, giving the Evangels their largest advantage of the contest at 29-25 with 7:15 left.
- OCU briefly took the lead back following a Brandon Jackson bucket and a Kori Guest three-pointer, but the Evangels swung back with five unanswered of their own as a Doolittle three and a pair of Eylan Goodwyn free throws with 4:42 to go to set the MACU advantage back to four at 34-30.
- Brandon Jackson caught fire from behind the arc over the next two minutes as the Stars guard went 4-for-4 from three-point range as the 12-unanswered surge put OCU back in-front for the rest of the game at 42-34 with just over two minutes remaining.
- Mid-America Christian cut the OCU lead in-half by scoring six of the next eight over the next three possessions as a Doolittle layup, a Gaines steal and fastbreak layup and a Goodwyn scoop-and-score closed it to 44-40 with 40 seconds left.
- However, Avery Jackson gave OCU the momentum going into the half by converting a three-point play with 12 seconds to go to make it a 47-40 game going into the break.
- Second Half
- Oklahoma City's defense contained MACU through the first three minutes as the Stars opened the second session with a seven-straight streak with a pair of Avery Jackson free throws with 17:03 to go bringing the OCU advantage to 55-40.
- Goodwyn tried to stem the tide for the Evangels by scoring a layup before his steal led to a Gaines transition score, closing it to an 11-point game at 55-44 with 16:37 to go, but that would be the closest MACU would be able to trim into the OCU edge the rest of the game.
- Another Guest three jumpstarted a 12-unanswered run for the Stars as OCU stretched its lead out to 67-44 following a Dravon Clayborn layup with 12:30 remaining.
- Alexandre's third triple of the contest briefly brought it back to a 20-point game, but couldn't knock the deficit below 20 the rest of the way.
- After Calavan finished strong with a right-handed layup and foul with 7:37 left, OCU countered with a 9-1 run to grab its first 30-point advantage of the contest at 83-53 with 4:28 to go.
- Alexandre and Brandon Jackson traded threes to keep it to a 30-point contest until the Evangels reserves pieced together a 12-2 run behind a pair of Ronnie Lopez left-wing threes wrapping-up the MACU scoring at 88-68 before the Stars came up with the final two scores over the final minute to wrap-up the 92-68 final.
GAME NOTES
- Oklahoma City shot a blistering clip from the field, knocking down 33-for-58 (56.9 percent) of its shot attempts while going 11-of-25 (44 percent) from three-point range and 15-for-19 (78.9 percent) from the free throw line. While OCU went just 3-of-9 (33.3 percent) from range in the second half, OCU was even more efficient on the offensive end as OCU knocked down 15-for-24 (62.5 percent) from the field and 12-of-14 (85.7 percent) from the line over the final 20 minutes.
- Mid-America Christian finished 24-for-67 (35.8 percent) from the floor and 10-of-27 (37.0 percent) from three while converting on 10-of-13 (76.9 percent) from the line, but the Evangels struggled mightily in the second half. In the second session, MACU shot just 9-for-34 (26.5 percent) from the floor and 4-for-15 (26.7 percent) from three.
- While OCU held just a slight 12-to-14 advantage in turnovers, the Stars were opportunistic on MACU's giveaway by outscoring the Evangels 23-14 in points off turnovers.
- Three Evangels finished in double-figures as Jonathan Alexandre led MACU in scoring for the first time this season, scoring all 12 of his points from the three-point arc by going 4-for-7 while also pulling down three rebounds.
- Tarrence Gaines scored his 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting and went 2-for-2 from the line to go with a pair of assists and two steals while Trevonte Doolittle rounded out MACU's double-digit scoring with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting, going 2-for-3 from three-point range.
- Oklahoma City frustrated MACU's two leading scorers on the season in DaRaun Clark and Eylan Goodwyn. Clark was held to a season-low two points on 1-of-5 shooting while Goodwyn mustered eight points on 3-of-13 shooting from the field.
- Despite OCU's massive size advantage, the Evangels still managed to hold their own on the glass as OCU finished with just a 37-33 rebounding advantage.
- The win for OCU snapped a six-game win streak for the Evangels in the series. The last time the Stars defeated the Evangels, it came in a 97-81 decision inside Abe Lemons Arena on Jan. 29, 2019.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will have a quick turnaround as the Evangels will host Southwestern Christian inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Monday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:45 p.m.
