OKLAHOMA CITY – In-front of a rowdy White Out Night crowd inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Monday night, the MACU men's basketball team put together one of the best three-point shooting performances in program history as the Evangels ran away with a 99-77 victory over rival Southwestern Christian.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Eddie Smith – 19 Points, 5-12 FG, 5-10 3FG, 4-7 FT, 6 Reb, 5 Assists, 2 Steals
• Mikel Henderson – 18 Points, 6-11 FG, 5-8 3FG, 4 Assists, 3 Steals
• Conner Calavan – 18 Points, 6-6 FG, 6-6 3FG, 3 Assists, 2 Reb
• Seth Hurd – 16 Points, 8-8 FG, 8 Reb, 5 Assists

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian (15-5, 11-3 SAC) opened the game with a fast start as Seth Hurd floated in the first bucket of the game from the left side on the first possession before a pair of Mikel Henderson three-pointers made it an early 8-2 lead with 17:50 left.
  • Southwestern Christian (1-15, 1-13 SAC) started putting together its own offensive barrage as the Eagles scored 10 of the next 12 to tie it up at 10-10 on Taylor Turner's three with 16:13 to go.
  • Henderson put MACU up by four at 21-17 with a running jumper off two offensive boards with a running jumper at the 12:26 mark, but SCU went on a seven-unanswered run to capture its first lead on Jason Douglas-Stanley's triple with just over 10 minutes to go to make it 24-21.
  • The two teams exchanged leads on a pair of occasions over the next few minutes, but MACU managed to grab the lead for good when Hurd put-back an Eddie Smith missed three to start a 12-2 Evangels streak as DeAngelo Adkins' free throws with 6:23 remaining gave MACU the 37-29 edge.
  • The Eagles refused to go away over the next four minutes as SCU eventually chiseled it down to a 43-41 game on Michal Wooldridge's powerful post move with 2:13 left.
  • Mid-America's defense came up strong over the final two minutes as the Evangels scored the final six points with Henderson ball-faking his defender up into the air before burying a side-step three from the left wing with 12 seconds left to send MACU into the break with the 49-41 advantage.
• Second Half
  • After Jasiah Lewis bounced in a three-pointer from the right corner to make it a 52-43 MACU lead with 17:49 left, Southwestern Christian fought back to make it a four-point game on three different occasions over the next six minutes, the last coming on a Ronald Moore hoop-and-harm with 11:06 to go to set the score to 61-57.
  • On the ensuing possession, Mid-America Christian put together a downright remarkable streak of shattering SCU's zone defense. After Conner Calavan buried a deep three from the right side, MACU went on a 20-8 run that saw Calavan and Smith combine to make six three-pointers before Hurd dropped in a fadeaway midrange jumper in the paint to make it an 81-65 contest with six minutes remaining.
  • After Jakeem Wynn knocked down a three on the other end, MACU was not done with its three-point barrage as another 11-2 Evangels surge was capped off on Calavan's sixth three-pointer at the 2:53 mark to make it 92-70.
  • The Evangels took their largest lead following a Magok Manyang slam dunk and a Smith foul shot with 2:07 to go to bring it to 95-72 before MACU eventually closed out the 99-77 final.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian put together its most remarkable shooting performance of the season as the Evangels shot 36-for-60 (60 percent) from the field and an unfathomable 18-of-33 (54.5 percent) from three while going 9-for-17 (52.9 percent) from the line. The 18 made triples for the Evangels tied the second-most in a single game since joining the NAIA (2007-present), matching the mark from a 95-92 win at Texas Wesleyan on Feb. 2, 2017. The record was also set during that 2016-17 campaign when the Evangels made 20 threes in a 121-87 victory over Crowley's Ridge (Ark.) on Jan. 10, 2017.
• In the victory, the Evangels did end up tying their single-game assists record with an incredible 32 assists while putting together a downright incredible 3.2-to-1 assist/turnover ratio. The 32 dimes matched the marks set in a 108-65 victory over Hillsdale (now Randall) on Nov. 7, 2014 and a 126-72 win at Bacone (Okla.)
• Southwestern Christian was no slouch on the offensive end either as the Eagles shot a blistering 28-for-56 (50 percent), including going 12-of-25 (48 percent) from downtown and also converted on 9-of-17 (52.9 percent) from the charity stripe.
• The Evangels dominated the glass, outrebounding SCU 40-26 with an 11-6 edge on the offensive glass while allowing only three second-chance points for the Eagles.
• Eddie Smith led four Evangels into double-figures with 19 points on 5-of-12 shooting, going 5-of-10 from three and 4-for-7 from the line with six boards, five assists and a pair of steals.
• Mikel Henderson finished with 18 points while shooting 6-of-11 from the field and 5-for-8 from three-point range while also dishing out four dimes and tallying three steals.
• Conner Calavan put together one of the most remarkable games of his career, scoring a career-high 18 points while hitting on all six of his three-point attempts while also tallying a trio of dimes as well.
• Seth Hurd rounded out the double-digit scorers for MACU with 16 points while also shooting a perfect 8-for-8 and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds to go with five assists.
• DeAngelo Adkins led MACU's distribution efforts with a career-best seven assists to go with six points and five boards.
• The three-point barrage also marked the first time in the NAIA Era where three different Evangels players made at-least five triples (Smith, Calavan, Henderson).
• Mid-America Christian completed the series sweep over Southwestern Christian after defeating the Eagles 99-64 inside Pickens-Springer Gym on Jan. 8.
• With the Evangels extending their win-streak to nine, MACU currently holds an 11-3 mark in Sooner Athletic Conference play, a game-and-a-half against Southwestern Assemblies of God for the No. 2 spot in the league standings.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will look to stay hot against another team that's on strong run in SAC play as the Evangels host Texas Wesleyan for a 7:45 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke to close out its four-game home stand.