OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Men's Basketball team survived a late comeback from Texas Wesleyan to come away with an 80-79 victory to sweep the season series against the Rams on Saturday afternoon inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
TOP PERFORMERS
- Eylan Goodwyn – 31 Points, 11-14 FG, 4-5 3FG, 5-7 FT, 4 Reb, 2 Steals
- Trevonte Doolittle – 14 Points, 4-8 FG, 2-3 3FG, 4-8 FT, 5 Assists, 4 Reb
- Tarrence Gaines – 11 Points, 4-9 FG, 2-2 FT, 10 Reb
GAME SUMMARY
- First Half
- Mid-America Christian (10-14, 7-11 SAC) opened the contest by scoring seven-straight while holding the Rams scoreless through the first 3:42 as Quentin Woodson's layup made it 7-0 with just under 18 minutes to go.
- After Texas Wesleyan (12-11, 9-8 SAC) closed it to a three-point game, Seth Hurd scored on back-to-back possessions, but the Rams answered back with a three-pointer from Peyton Sallee and a layup from Ousmane Ndim to close it an 11-9 score with 12:29 remaining.
- Midway through the first half, the Evangels went on a 16-5 run over the next six minutes as Eylan Goodwyn scored nine of MACU's 16 points before Conner Calavan buried a pair of foul shots to make it 27-14 with 4:47 left.
- With just under four minutes to go, the Rams quickly rallied back with eight-unanswered over a 42 second stretch as a Keyuan Hoskin three cut it to a 28-25 game at the 3:14 mark.
- TWU kept it to within two possessions over the final three minutes, but Goodwyn hit a rough fadeaway jumper from the right elbow with 28 seconds remaining to send MACU into the half with a 34-29 advantage.
Second Half
- Matt Nero converted a three-point play for Texas Wesleyan to start a 9-4 run as a Sallee three knotted up the score at 38 with 16:39 remaining.
- MACU answered with a run of its own, stringing together a 16-6 run capped off by a Goodwyn three from the left-wing to put the Evangels back up 54-44 with 12:23 left to play.
- Doolittle and Goodwyn continued to keep the Evangels out in-front as MACU maintained its double-digit lead throughout the next ten minutes of play. With 2:44 left, Goodwyn knocked down another three to stretch the Evangels' edge to its largest of the game at 71-56 with 2:44 to go.
- MACU held its double-digit edge until Akili Vining cut it to eight at 73-65 with a layup with 1:14 remaining.
- Over the next minute, the Rams chiseled away at the MACU edge as the Rams outscored the Evangels 14-7 off a pair of threes from Hoskin and Sallee before a costly Tarrence Gaines foul sent Gavin Harris to the line for three free throws with four seconds to go to close it to 80-79.
- Texas Wesleyan had a chance at a game-winner after Goodwyn missed a pair of free throws leaving the door open for the Rams to win the game, but Sallee missed a deep three to the left at the buzzer to hang on for the victory.
GAME NOTES
- Mid-America Christian outshot Texas Wesleyan from the field and from behind the three-point arc by shooting 28-for-56 (50 percent) and 8-for-15 (53.3 percent) from three while the Rams knocked down 26-of-59 (44.1 percent) and 11-for-27 (40.7 percent) from range.
- Texas Wesleyan held the advantage from the free throw line as the Rams shot 16-for-21 (76.2 percent) and the Evangels went 16-for-27 (59.3 percent).
- MACU dominated the with a 46-29 edge, including a 16-7 advantage on the offensive glass that led to 22 second chance points for MACU and only seven for the Rams.
- Mid-America Christian got the wire-to-wire win while leading by as many as 15 late in the second half.
- Eylan Goodwyn posted a new career-high scoring output with 31 points on 11-of-14 shooting and going 4-of-5 from three-point land. Goodwyn also ripped down four rebounds and played well on the defensive end with a pair of steals.
- Trevonte Doolittle poured in 14 points on 4-for-8 shooting, including 2-of-3 from three while also racking up a game-high five assists and four rebounds.
- Tarrence Gaines rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points 4-of-9 from the field and tallied his fifth double-double of the season by hauling in 10 rebounds.
- While Seth Hurd was kept relatively quiet on the offensive end with nine points on 4-for-9 shooting, the junior forward had one of his best defensive games by tallying a season-high three blocked shots to go with a pair of assists.
- Mid-America Christian won its fourth straight over Texas Wesleyan and have won six of its last seven in the series. The last six meetings have been relatively even between the two squads with every result since Feb. 15, 2020 being decided by five points or less.
- MACU sweeps the season series over Texas Wesleyan after the Evangels picked up a huge 86-83 road win inside Sid Richardson Arena back on Jan. 2.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will hit the road on Thursday, Feb. 9 as the Evangels will head to Dallas for a 7:45 p.m. tip-off against UNT-Dallas inside the Trinity Basin Preparatory Athletic Complex.
