OKLAHOMA CITY – Facing the second-best team in the Sooner Athletic Conference, the MACU men's basketball team brought a ferocious defensive approach to shut down John Brown to come away with a huge 70-54 win over the Golden Eagles inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Saturday afternoon.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Mickel Henderson – 14 Points, 5-12 FG, 4-7 3FG
• Eddie Smith – 12 Points, 5-11 FG, 2-3 FT, 3 Reb, 3 Steals, 2 Assists
• Jasiah Lewis – 11 Points, 3-8 FG, 5-9 FT, 4 Assists, 3 Steals, 2 Reb
• Magok Manyang – 10 Points, 4-5 FG, 2-2 FT, 5 Reb, 2 Steals, 2 Blocks

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian (10-5, 6-3 SAC) ambushed John Brown right out of the gate, scoring seven points through the first 1:18 as a steal and fastbreak layup by Jasiah Lewis with 18:42 remaining gave the Evangels the 7-0 advantage.
  • A Drew Miller tip-in with 18:18 left gave John Brown (9-5, 7-2 SAC) its first bucket, but the Golden Eagles weren't able to close their deficit to less than five over the next few minutes.
  • Following a pair of Miller free throws with just under 16 minutes to go to make it 12-6, MACU put together a stifling five-minute stretch defensively, holding the Golden Eagles scoreless in the stretch while stringing together an eight-unanswered run. MACU capped off the streak on Seth Hurd's fastbreak lay-in off Zalek Sharp's diving steal on a loose ball, setting the score to 20-6 with 11:19 left.
  • While four JBU foul shots closed the gap to 10 at the midway point, Seth Hurd's dish to a cutting Eddie Smith for a layup started another 9-0 Evangels surge capped off on Mikel Henderson's 26-foot three-pointer from the top of the key with 7:28 left swelled the MACU advantage to 29-10.
  • Henderson buried another three with 6:04 remaining to push the MACU edge back to 32-13, but the Golden Eagles were able to trim their deficit down to 15 on a pair of occasions over the rest of the half, the last coming on a Collins lay-in with 37 seconds remaining.
  • Jasiah Lewis was able to knock down a pair of foul shots with six seconds left before Smith picked Malachi Reeves pocket at the buzzer to prevent a last second JBU shot to take a commanding 38-21 lead into the halftime break.
• Second Half
  • After Reeves scored the opening bucket at the 18:44 mark, Mid-America Christian scored the next five on a Magok Manyang three-point play and a DeAngelo Adkins steal and fastbreak layup, giving MACU its largest lead of the contest at 43-23 with 17:45 left.
  • Even though JBU managed to trim it down to a 15-point game once again on two Miller free throws with 14:20 to go, the Evangels were able to come up with a pair of big threes from Sharp and Henderson over the next three minutes while holding the Golden Eagles to just two points off a pair of foul shots during that stretch to extend the edge back to 50-31 with 11:12 remaining.
  • Over the next eight minutes, John Brown slowly chiseled away at the MACU advantage before finally knocking it down to as little as 11 on a Reeves three-ball at the 2:49 mark.
  • On the following possession, MACU whittled the shot clock all the way down before Adkins buried an incredible step-back three from the left wing to beat the shot clock and hit another three a minute later during an 8-3 MACU run to stretch their advantage back to 68-52 on Lewis' free throw with 55 seconds on the clock.
  • Collins and Manyang traded dunks on back-to-back possessions before Manyang intercepted an inbound pass on JBU's final possession to seal the 70-54 wire-to-wire win.

GAME NOTES

• Even though Mid-America Christian struggled from the three-point arc, shooting 7-for-25 (28.0 percent) and from the free throw line on 11-of-20 (55.0 percent), the Evangels dominated in the painted area, scoring 36 points in the paint while shooting 19-for-34 (55.9 percent) from inside the arc to finish 26-for-59 (44.1 percent).
• Defensively, the Evangels held John Brown to just 17-of-50 (34.0 percent) from the floor and 3-for-19 (15.8 percent) from three. The Golden Eagles were unable to score a single three-pointer until the 7:15 mark in the second half. However, JBU was able to efficiently convert on 17-of-20 (85.0 percent) from the charity stripe.
• MACU's defense not only frustrated the Golden Eagles into their worst three-point shooting game of the season, the Evangels also forced JBU into committing a season-high 26 turnovers, getting 17 steals on those 26 giveaways while Mid-America Christian committed just nine of its own for 22-7 scoring differential in points off turnovers.
• Despite their offensive struggles, the Golden Eagles were able to control the glass with a 46-31 rebounding advantage while holding a 17-13 edge on the offensive glass. However, MACU was able to limit JBU's put-back opportunities as JBU only held a slim 10-9 edge in second chance points.
• Once again, MACU was able to put together an incredibly balanced score sheet with six players scoring eight or more points and four breaking into double-figures. Mikel Henderson led MACU's offensive efforts with 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting while knocking down 4-for-7 from the arc.
• Even though he went 0-for-4 from three, Eddie Smith was still the spark plug off MACU's bench as he went 5-for-7 on his two-point chances to finish with 12 points to go with three steals.
• Jasiah Lewis finished the contest with 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting and 5-for-9 from the free throw line while dishing out a team-high four assists to go with three thefts.
• Magok Manyang rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting while also converting two three-point plays. Manyang was also tied with Seth Hurd for the team-lead in rebounds with five while coming away with two steals and two blocks on the defensive end.
• Even though the reigning SAC Player of the Week Tyrell Collins finished with a game-high 15 points on 5-of-9 from the field, the Evangels defense was able to frustrate JBU's top two scoring leaders on the season in Malachi Reeves and Drew Miller as two players combined to score 23 points on 6-of-25 shooting, including 2-for-13 from three.
• MACU picked up its second-straight win over the Golden Eagles inside the Gaulke Activity Center with another defensive outing as the Evangels held JBU to just 44 points in a 56-44 win on Jan. 12, 2023.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now prepare for another crucial SAC home game next week as the Evangels will host Southwestern Assemblies of God for a 7:45 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday, Jan. 18.