OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU men's basketball team survived a late scare following a big rally by Wayland Baptist, but the Pioneers potential game-winning three bricked off the back iron as the Evangels held on for an 84-82 victory on Black Out Night inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday night for their seventh-straight win.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Eddie Smith – 17 Points, 5-11 FG, 4-6 3FG, 3-5 FT, 2 Reb, 2 Steals
• Seth Hurd – 13 Points, 6-8 FG, 3 Reb
• DeAngelo Adkins – 12 Points, 3-10 FG, 3-6 3FG, 3-5 FT, 8 Reb, 3 Assists, 3 Steals
• Jasiah Lewis – 8 Points, 2-8 FG, 4-6 FT, 9 Assists, 2 Steals

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Wayland Baptist (13-6, 8-5 SAC) opened the contest by scoring the first five points, but Mid-America Christian (13-5, 9-3 SAC) countered with a 7-2 run of its own as Seth Hurd powered in a layup through a foul with 15:53 to tie it up at 7-7.
  • Over the next four minutes, the Pioneers went on a strong 12-4 surge as a pair of Rodney Carson Jr. foul shots at the 11:23 mark gave WBU its largest lead of the game at 19-11.
  • The MACU defense clamped down on Wayland Baptist over the next four minutes, holding the Pioneers to without a field goal during a 9-2 run, closing the gap to 21-20 on a Conner Calavan three from the left wing at the 8:01 mark.
  • While a D'Michael Bellfield three-point play with 5:37 remaining extended the WBU edge back to four, the Evangels put together a 6-2 surge off a pair of Calavan three-balls, including a 25-foot shot clock buzzer beater allowed MACU to tie the game up for the first time 28-28 with just under four minutes to go.
  • The Pioneers managed to reclaim a four-point lead over the next minute before a six-unanswered MACU run allowed the Evangels to take their first lead at 34-32 with 34 seconds left off Eddie Smith's defensive board and coast-to-coast fastbreak layup. However, WBU managed to tie the game on the ensuing possession on a Meikkel Murray spin move in the lane, sending the game into the half all tied up at 34-34.
• Second Half
  • After trading the first two buckets to start the second half, Mid-America Christian scored the next four off a pair of DeAngelo Adkins foul shots before Magok Manyang threw down a thunderous dunk off Jasiah Lewis' inbounds lob to give MACU the 40-36 lead with 17:15 left.
  • A Jaxon Recer midrange jumper with 14:40 left closed the Pioneers' deficit down to one, but a quick Lewis pull-up jumper on the ensuing possession ignited a dominant 13-2 Evangels run over the next three minutes as a pair of Quentin Woodson foul shots with 11:30 to go swelled the lead to 55-43.
  • Four-unanswered Pioneers points briefly knocked it back to a single-digit deficit for WBU, but Mid-America Christian swung back with 10-straight of its own as back-to-back long Smith triples gave the Evangels a 65-47 lead with 9:09 remaining.
  • Following a Brett Leach long-ball, the Evangels nailed a pair of three-pointers of their own from Adkins and Mikel Henderson over the next two possessions to give MACU its largest lead of the contest at 71-52 with 7:10 left.
  • A Tahjae Hill steal and fastbreak layup at the 5:54 mark jumpstarted a 13-2 WBU run as Carson Jr.'s three-point play knocked it down to a single-digit game once again at 74-66 with 3:13 remaining.
  • Two Henderson free throws with 2:56 to go briefly pushed the MACU advantage back to 10, but Wayland Baptist followed it up with a 14-5 run as a long Quentin Coleman three-pointer from the right wing cut it to a one-point game at 81-80 with 12 seconds left.
  • Smith and Coleman traded a pair of free throws off of two quick fouls to put it back to a one-point game, but the door remained open for WBU when Lewis made one of two foul shots with five seconds left to set the score to 84-82.
  • The Pioneers had a chance at the buzzer as Coleman drove it up the right side, but his 35-foot heave at the buzzer bricked off the back iron to allow MACU to hold on for the nail-biting victory.

GAME NOTES

• As a team, Mid-America Christian shot 25-for-57 (43.9 percent), which included going 12-of-24 (50 percent) in the second half while efficiently burying 11-of-27 (40.7 percent) from three and converted on 23-of-32 (71.9 percent) of its foul shots.
• Wayland Baptist also put together a highly efficient offensive game, going 28-for-55 (50.9 percent) from the floor, 8-of-19 (42.1 percent) from three while converting on 18-for-27 (66.7 percent) from the line.
• Even though the Pioneers were able to hold a commanding 43-33 lead in the rebounding department with an 18-15 edge on the offensive glass, the Evangels were able to take better advantage of their second chances with 19-14 advantage in their extra opportunities.
• MACU's aggressive defense forced Wayland Baptist into committing a season-high 22 turnovers while the Evangels gave it away just 12 times.
• Mid-America Christian continued to show incredible offensive balance as five players finished in double-figure scoring while seven MACU players finished with eight or more points. Eddie Smith led all Evangels with 17 points on a 5-for-11 night, including going a blistering 4-of-6 from three-point range.
• Seth Hurd scored 13 points on an efficient 6-for-8 outing while DeAngelo Adkins once again finished just shy of a double-double with 12 points while going 3-for-6 from three to go with a team-leading eight boards, three assists and a trio of thefts.
• Conner Calavan provided a spark off the MACU bench with 11 points while going 3-for-5 from downtown while Magok Manyang rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points and tied the team-lead with eight rebounds to go with a pair of steals and two blocks on the defensive end.
• Jasiah Lewis narrowly missed recording a double-double of his own by scoring eight points and dishing out a season-high nine assists to just three turnovers for a 3-to-1 assist-turnover ratio.
• Facing one of the strongest programs in the Sooner Athletic Conference, the Evangels recorded their first regular season series sweep over Wayland Baptist since MACU's incredible 30-2 season in 2019-20.
• The victory allowed MACU to snatch its seventh-straight win, marking MACU's longest win streak for the Evangels since stringing together 20 in a row and 10 straight during that incredible 2019-20 campaign.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will be back in-action inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Saturday as the Evangels host Oklahoma Panhandle State for a 3:45 p.m. tip-off.