PLAINVIEW, Texas – The MACU men's basketball team opened Sooner Athletic Conference play in downright thrilling fashion inside the Hutcherson Center on Thursday night. After the Evangels gave up a go-ahead three with five seconds left, MACU quickly came down the court and senior guard Jasiah Lewis buried a buzzer-beating three from the top of the key to propel MACU to a 62-61 upset win over No. 10 Wayland Baptist.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Magok Manyang – 14 Points, 4-5 FG, 4-5 3FG, 2-2 FT, 8 Reb
• Mikel Henderson – 11 Points, 4-15 FG, 3-9 3FG, 3 Assists
• DeAngelo Adkins – 9 Points, 3-5 FG, 3-5 3FG, 6 Reb, 2 Assists, 2 Steals
• Jasiah Lewis – 6 Points, 2-8 FG, 6 Reb, 3 Assists, 2 Steals

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • The first six minutes of the contest were an offensive struggle for both teams, but Mid-America Christian (4-1, 1-0 SAC) managed to capture the 6-4 lead with 14:08 remaining off a pair of threes from Magok Manyang and DeAngelo Adkins.
  • Wayland Baptist (4-2, 0-1 SAC) took the lead for the remainder of the half off an eight-unanswered run over the next two minutes as Brett Leach's three with 11:51 left made it a 12-6 WBU advantage.
  • Conner Calavan's three from the left corner off Eddie Smith's drive and dish closed the gap to 12-10 with 10:43 to go, but the Evangels hit a four-minute cold spell as the Pioneers extended their lead to 17-10 off a Linton Brown three and a Jahvonta Jones jumper with just under seven minutes on the clock.
  • Mid-America Christian knocked the Pioneers' edge down to three on three different occasions over the rest of the half, the last coming on a Mikel Henderson's long three from the top of the key with 1:55 to go to set the score to 24-21.
  • Two quick scores by the Pioneers allowed WBU to build is lead out to eight on Brown's three at the 1:11 mark, but the Evangels knocked it down to a two-possession game heading into the halftime break on Quentin Woodson's offensive board and putback with 19 seconds left to make it a 29-23 game.
• Second Half
  • After both teams were held in-check offensively through the first half, the second half opened with an explosive offensive output through the first few minutes as WBU scored seven of the first 12 with Leach's second three making it a 36-28 game with 17:51 on the clock.
  • A Manyang three from the right corner on the ensuing possession ignited a dominant Evangels run as MACU outscored Wayland Baptist 13-0 over the next four minutes with Henderson ending the run with a floating jumper down the left baseline kissing off the glass, making it a 41-36 Evangels advantage with 14:20 left.
  • The Pioneers managed to cut it down to a one-point game on Tahjae Hill's jumper at the 11:11 mark, but MACU quickly swung back when Henderson found Manyang open in the left corner for a three. Eddie Smith added to it with a steal and fastbreak layup with 10:19 remaining before Jasiah Lewis gave the Evangels their largest lead of the game at 51-44 with 9:24 to go.
  • Wayland Baptist kept the Evangels in-check over the next six minutes as the Pioneers strung together a 9-2 run to tie it up at 53-all on Hill's layup before Seth Hurd hit a beautiful floating hook in the paint to put MACU back in-front with 3:53 left.
  • The Evangels and Pioneers traded the lead twice over the next few minutes, but Henderson put MACU back in-front heading into the final minute on the right wing off a hand-off screen from Manyang as his three with 1:04 left made it 59-58.
  • The last 15 seconds of the game proved to be a wild finish as MACU had a chance to put a dagger into the Pioneers' comeback chances. Manyang got an open look from three but Wayland Baptist came down with the defensive board, WBU pushed the ball up the court before Bol Tong buried a long three from the top of the key with five seconds left to put WBU in-front 61-59.
  • However, the Evangels wouldn't be denied as MACU quickly inbounded the ball and pushed it up for Lewis to drain the game-winning three with less than a second left to wrap-up the wild 62-61 final.

GAME SUMMARY

• In the low-scoring defensive battle, Mid-America Christian did most of its damage from downtown as the Evangels shot 21-for-56 (37.5 percent), but converted 12-of-28 (42.9 percent). MACU was much stronger offensively in the second half, shooting 13-of-29 (44.8 percent) with a 7-for-14 (50 percent) clip from downtown.
• Facing the 22^nd-best scoring offense in the NAIA at 89.0 points per game, the Evangels held Wayland Baptist to a season-low 61 points on a season-worst 20 made field goals (20-for-55, 36.4 percent). The Pioneers who had a strong three-point shooting team coming in, MACU also held WBU to a season-low 31.0 percent (9-of-29) from downtown.
• Both teams struggled from the free throw line as the Pioneers finished 12-for-19 (63.2 percent) while the Evangels converted just 8-of-14 (57.1 percent).
• Mid-America Christian won the rebounding game by a 37-33 margin with the edge coming on the offensive glass at 11-7. Both teams did a great job of taking care of the basketball as the Pioneers committed just eight turnovers while the Evangels finished with 12.
• Nine different Evangels broke into the scoring column as Magok Manyang led the offensive efforts with 14 points on a blistering 4-for-5 from three while also narrowly missing a double-double with eight boards.
• Mikel Henderson was the only other Evangel to crack into double-figures with 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting, going 3-for-9 from three-point range.
• DeAngelo Adkins also did all of his work from beyond the arc, scoring nine points on 3-for-5 shooting from three to go with six boards and a pair of steals.
• Despite shooting 0-for-5 from three going into the buzzer-beating pull-up three, Jasiah Lewis made it when MACU needed it the most as the senior guard finished with six points, six rebounds and three assists.
• MACU snapped a four-game losing streak to the Pioneers with the last win over Wayland Baptist coming in an 83-81 thriller inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Feb. 8, 2020.
• The Evangels also got their first victory over an NAIA Top 25 opponent since Feb. 7, 2022 when MACU picked up a 92-74 win at No. 9 Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas).

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will wrap-up its western road swing on Saturday as the Evangels will take on Oklahoma Panhandle State at 3:45 p.m. inside Anchor D Arena in Goodwell.