OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU men's basketball team got back on the winning track to wrap-up the 2023 portion of the season as the Evangels cruised to a 105-71 win over Kansas Christian for Alumni Day inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Saturday afternoon.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Seth Hurd – 23 Points, 8-13 FG, 7-7 FT, 5 Reb
• Magok Manyang – 14 Points, 5-8 FG, 3-5 3FG, 7 Reb, 2 Assists
• Mikel Henderson – 12 Points, 4-6 FG, 2-4 3FG, 2-2 FT, 3 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian (6-4) jumped out to a commanding advantage, scoring the first 21 points through the opening seven as a pair of Mikel Henderson free throws made it a 21-0 game with 13:15 to go.
  • Kansas Christian (4-6) finally got on the board off a Kaiden Hunter steal and fastbreak lay-in, but the Evangels swung back with a Seth Hurd layup followed by a Magok Manyang three-ball from the right corner off a Jasiah Lewis drive-and-dish, setting the score to 26-2 at the 12:05 mark.
  • The closest the Falcons could cut into the MACU advantage was 19, coming off a James Lewis three from the left wing to set the score to 41-22 with 5:39 left.
  • However, the Evangels countered by scoring eight unanswered, featuring a Hurd three-point play and a Henderson jumper before Lewis capped the run with a fastbreak layup following a Henderson steal with 4:01 remaining to bring it to 49-22.
  • Following an Isaac Lane three-point play, the Evangels extended their lead out to 28 on a DeAngelo Adkins steal and fastbreak flush before Manyang got out in-transition for a breakaway layup to set the score to 53-25 with just under three minutes to go.
  • The Falcons could only knock four points off the MACU edge heading into the half after scoring seven of the final 10 to close it to 58-34 on Isaac Lane's buzzer-beating fadeaway jumper on the right baseline.
• Second Half
  • The Falcons opened the second half with a Damon Werts layup, but the Evangels quickly countered with six unanswered as Manyang tipped in his own missed shot to swell the MACU lead out to 64-36 with just under 17 minutes left.
  • KCC fought back to close it to a 68-48 contest on Kaiden Hunter's right-wing three at the 13:27 mark.
  • With just under 11 minutes remaining, a Conner Calavan three from the top of key off Smith's drive-and-dish ignited a 16-0 run, featuring four three-pointers as Jalen Goar's bomb from the left wing pushed the MACU advantage out to 90-52 with 8:20 to go.
  • Mid-America Christian captured its largest lead of the contest at the 4:55 mark when Eylan Goodwyn split the double team off the dribble and finished through the contact at the rim to convert a three-point play, setting the score to 98-57.
  • Kansas Christian made a slight dent in the Evangels' edge against their reserves in the final five minutes, but MACU still managed to come away with a dominant 105-71 victory.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian put together its best offensive game of the season, finishing with a season-high 105 points on 36-of-70 (51.4 percent) shooting, including going 13-for-23 (56.5 percent) from the three-point arc while also converting 20-of-25 (80 percent) from the charity stripe.
• The MACU defense held Kansas Christian to 24-for-64 (37.5 percent) from the field, including 5-of-25 (20 percent) from downtown, but also shot an efficient 18-for-23 (78.3 percent) from the line.
• The Evangels dominated the rebounding battle by a 49-32 margin with an 18-11 edge on the offensive glass. MACU also did well in the floor game with 27 assists to just 11 turnovers while the Falcons had only 11 assists to 16 giveaways.
• Overall, 15 MACU players found themselves in the scoring column. Seth Hurd led MACU's offensive efforts with 23 points, 17 of which came in the first half on 8-of-13 shooting and 7-for-7 from the stripe to go with five boards.
• Magok Manyang also finished in double-figures with 14 points on 5-for-8 from the field, including 3-of-5 from downtown to go with eight boards while Mikel Henderson was the only other Evangel to finish in double-digits with 12 points on 4-of-6 from the field and 2-for-4 from three.
• DeAngelo Adkins led the Evangels on the glass with eight rebounds while Jasiah Lewis and Eddie Smith led MACU's distribution efforts with six assists apiece.
• MACU improved to 3-0 all-time against Kansas Christian while picking up its second win over the Falcons in the last three seasons after coming away with a 107-98 win inside the Paycom Center on Oct. 27, 2022.
• The Evangels also held their annual Alumni Game shortly after the completion of the contest.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will return to Sooner Athletic Conference play to start the new year as the Evangels will host No. 2 Langston for a 7:45 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday, Jan. 4.