DALLAS – The MACU men's basketball team had to rally late, but the Evangels picked up their sixth-straight win to close out the first half of Sooner Athletic Conference play with a 72-65 victory at UNT Dallas inside the Trinity Basin Preparatory Athletic Complex on Saturday.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Eddie Smith – 22 Points, 6-11 FG, 2-2 3FG, 8-10 FT, 2 Assists
• Seth Hurd – 16 Points, 8-16 FG, 6 Reb, 3 Assists
• DeAngelo Adkins – 9 Points, 4-6 FG, 11 Reb, 3 Assists, 2 Steals

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian (12-5, 8-3 SAC) opened the contest by scoring the first two buckets in the first pair of possessions on a Seth Hurd lay-in and a quick steal and layup by DeAngelo Adkins, but UNT Dallas (5-9, 4-7 SAC) fought back with a 9-4 run to take its first lead of the game on Tariq Aman's three from the top of the key to make it 9-8 with 16:47 left.
  • Scoring came at a premium for both teams over the next four minutes as an Adkins three from the right corner on Jasiah Lewis' drive and dish put MACU back in-front by two. Vernon Johnson snapped UNTD's four-and-a-half minute scoreless streak with a layup to tie it at 11-all with 12:18 to go.
  • On the ensuing possession, Conner Calavan pushed the Evangels back in-front with a three from the right wing, igniting an 11-2 MACU run capped off on another Hurd diagonal runner in the paint extended the MACU edge to 22-13 with 8:32 remaining.
  • The Trailblazers chiseled away at the lead over the next few minutes, eventually making it a 24-19 game at the 6:36 mark on another Johnson score. Mid-America Christian wouldn't let UNTD close it any closer though as the Evangels swung back to take their first double-digit lead at 29-19 on Mikel Henderson's right side three with just under five to go.
  • The Evangels maintained a 3-4 possession lead the rest of the way as Eddie Smith drilled a three from the top of the key with seven seconds left to briefly stretch the MACU lead back to 10, but UNTD's Conner Kern knocked down a left elbow jumper at the buzzer to close it to a 36-28 game at the halftime break.
• Second Half
  • Kern scored UNTD's first bucket of the second half on the Trailblazers first possession following a MACU turnover, but Lewis followed suit with a personal four-point run by making one of two free throws before converting an and-one with 18:46 remaining to give MACU a double-digit lead once again at 40-30.
  • Over the next three minutes, the Trailblazers managed to cut the Evangels' edge down to five on a pair of occasions, but Adkins tough finish in the low block at the 15:23 mark jumpstarted a 10-2 MACU surge as Smith hit a right elbow floater with 13:15 left to give the Evangels their largest lead of the contest at 52-39.
  • Following a Magok Manyang triple to push it back to a 13-point game with 12:26 to go, Mid-America Christian hit a cold spell during the midway portion of the half as UNT Dallas went on an 18-3 run over the next seven minutes as a tip-in by Johnson with 5:47 left put the Trailblazers up 60-58.
  • Hurd finally snapped MACU's cold spell a Hurd put it in on the low left block to tie it up, but the Trailblazers scored the next three as Cobe Dillard's free throw with 4:09 remaining gave UNTD its largest lead of the game at 63-60.
  • A putback tip-in by Hurd with 3:26 to go started a strong MACU run as the Evangels scored six of the next seven as Lewis split the double team and strode in through the paint for the left-handed layup to give MACU the 66-64 lead with just over a minute left.
  • After Johnson knocked down one of two from the foul line 53 seconds to go, the Trailblazers gambled trying to trap Smith at the half-court line. However, the senior guard found Lewis open on the right wing before relaying it back to Smith for a wide open three at the top of key to make it a two-possession game at 69-65 with 45 seconds remaining.
  • MACU came up with three defensive stops over the final 45 seconds while Smith knocked down 3-of-4 free throws off the quick clock stoppage fouls to seal the 72-65 final.

GAME NOTES

• Even though Mid-America Christian scored just 72 points, the Evangels were incredibly efficient in their offensive sets, going 27-for-52 (51.9 percent) from the field, 8-of-13 (61.5 percent) from three and converted 10-for-16 (62.5 percent) from the charity stripe.
• UNT Dallas finished the game by knocking down 25-of-62 (40.3 percent) of its shots, but were cold from three at 5-for-19 (26.3 percent) while equally finishing 10-of-16 (62.5 percent) at the line.
• The Trailblazers did manage to narrowly win the rebounding battle by a 34-33 edge as well as the turnover battle at 18 forced turnovers while only giving the ball away to MACU 14 times.
• Eddie Smith led MACU's offensive efforts with 22 points on a stellar 6-for-11 shooting, going 2-for-2 from three while also going 8-for-10 from the free throw line.
• Seth Hurd was the only other MACU player to break double-figure scoring with 16 points on 8-of-16 from the floor to go with six boards and three assists.
• DeAngelo Adkins narrowly missed a double-double after scoring nine points on 4-for-6 shooting to go with 11 rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals.
• Mikel Henderson ended his night with nine points, all coming on 3-of-4 shooting from behind the arc while Jasiah Lewis finished with eight points to go with three dimes as well.
• With the victory, Mid-America Christian improved to 6-0 all-time against UNT Dallas since the Trailblazers joined the SAC in 2021.
• The Evangels also wrapped up the first half of conference play with their sixth-straight win to improve to 8-3 in league play as they currently sit in a four-way tie for second in the SAC standings with Science & Arts, Southwestern Assemblies of God and John Brown.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will return home next week to start a four-game home stand as the Evangels open the second half of league play with a high-profile matchup against Wayland Baptist on Thursday. Tip-off is slated for 7:45 p.m. inside the Gaulke Activity Center.