OKLAHOMA CITY – Coming off one of its best seasons in its recent history, the MACU Men's Basketball program will be continuing to building off last year's successful campaign as the Evangels were selected to finish third in the Sooner Athletic Conference preseason poll by the league's coaches on Wednesday.
Overall, the Evangels received 121 points in the poll, placing four points ahead of Wayland Baptist (117, one first-place vote) and just five points back of Nelson (126) for second. Langston was once again picked as the preseason favorite with 144 points and 12 of the 13 first-place votes.
Mid-America Christian put together one of its best seasons since the 2019-20 campaign as the Evangels wrapped up the year with a 24-9 overall record and finished as the SAC Finalist, falling to eventual NAIA Runner-Up Langston in a hard-fought SAC Tournament Championship by a score of 55-44 in the title tilt.
After going 17-5 in league play to finish second in the conference standings as well as finishing as the league's tourney runner-up, the Evangels received an automatic berth to the NAIA National Champion Tournament, where the Evangels advanced to the Second Round after defeating No. 7 seed Hastings 68-67 on Mar. 15 in Wichita, Kansas in the opening round before falling to No. 2 seed and nationally fourth-ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan in the ensuing round.
Even though MACU five of its top six scorers from a season ago, senior forward Magok Manyang will look to continue to be a big piece for the Evangels on both the offensive and defensive ends. In his first season with MACU, Manyang was instrumental, averaging 9.0 points per game on a very strong 46.1 percent shooting percentage, including going 35-of-105 (33.3 percent) from three and 78.8 percent from the charity stripe.
While the Evangels lost most of their talent from last season's team, MACU does feature a few other key returners, including senior combo guard/forward Tarrence Gaines and senior forward Quentin Woodson. Over the last four years, Gaines has seen action in 76 games while making 29 start, scoring 380 points on a strong 45.6 percent shooting clip to go with 358 rebounds. Gaines has been a big time shot blocker for MACU over the last two seasons, rejecting 32 shots in that time frame.
Woodson, who was selected for the prestigious Emil S. Liston Scholarship Award this past summer, has also been a key reserve for MACU over the last three seasons, seeing action in 91 games, scoring 473 points on an incredibly efficient 57.7 percent shooting while also pulling down 276 rebounds and tallying 51 steals in the low post.
Entering his 10th season at the helm, head coach Josh Gamblin much like last season brought in a wellspring of incoming transfer talent, including NCAA D-I North Alabama transfer Josiah Fulcher, NCAA D-II Southern Nazarene's Keeshawn Mason and Zander Baker as well as NCAA D-II Texas A&M-International's Shannon Strickland and Juwan White.
MACU also added some strong JUCO talents in Eastern Oklahoma State's Marque Wilkerson, Paris JC's Morris Williams.
Between his last season with UNA and two seasons with NCAA D-I Bowling Green, Fulcher has scored 371 points with 220 rebounds and 81 assists over 73 games.
During the 2023-24 season with the Crimson Storm, Mason was a key reserve that appeared in 22 games, finishing the year with 120 points (5.5 ppg) while shooting a very effective 52.9 percent from the field as well as pulled down 74 rebounds (3.4 rpg) to go with 17 blocked shots. Meanwhile, Baker will be in his first year as a player after exhausting a redshirt season with SNU last year.
Bringing in a pair of talented players from the Dustdevils, who went 18-12 in a loaded Lone Star Conference last season, Strickland appeared in 29 games and made 22 starts while scoring 199 points (6.9 ppg) to go with 44 rebounds, 23 assists and 17 steals. While White missed the past season at TAMUI, White appeared in 14 games and made eight starts during the 2022-23 season as he averaged 5.0 points and 1.0 steals per game after stints at NCAA-I Stony Brook and Butler CC (Kan.).
Last season at EOSC, Wilkerson competed in 32 games and made three starts while averaging 11.1 ppg on a blistering 50.4 percent shooting to go with an effective 33.3 percent from the three-point arc to go along with 2.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists per contest. Wilkerson with Paris JC also put together a strong year, seeing action in 31 games while making eight starts, scoring 6.3 ppg while going 43.2 percent from the field.
Mid-America Christian will officially open its 2024-25 season at home next week as the Evangels face off against Kansas Christian for a 6 p.m. tip-off on Thursday, Oct. 24 inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
