OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Men's Basketball team opened its 2024-25 season in emphatic fashion on Thursday night inside the Gaulke Activity Center as the Evangels cruised to a 95-62 victory over Kansas Christian.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Juwan White – 15 Points, 5-7 FG, 2-4 3FG, 3-4 FT, 7 Assists, 4 Reb
• Keeshawn Mason – 15 Points, 7-12 FG, 4 Reb
• Tarrence Gaines – 14 Points, 4-8 FG, 5-6 FT, 7 Reb, 3 Assists
• Josiah Fulcher – 11 Points, 5-6 FG, 8 Reb, 3 Assists
• Magok Manyang – 10 Points, 4-8 FG, 7 Reb, 4 Steals

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian (1-0) struggled through the first three minutes of the contest as Kansas Christian jumped out to a 5-4 lead on Rae'Quan Frazier's three-pointer at the top of the key at the 17:03 mark.
  • Keeshawn Mason's spinning left-handed layup on the ensuing possession sparked the Evangels offense as MACU rattled off 11-unanswered with Juwan White burying a fastbreak three from the left wing to set the score to 15-5 with 14:19 left.
  • The Evangels were able to extend their lead to 21-8 following a Mason three-point play following a monstrous dunk with just over 12 minutes to go before the Falcons scored seven of the next nine to cut the deficit down to single-digits at 23-15 with seven minutes remaining.
  • Kansas Christian was unable to trim the MACU edge down any further before the Evangels went on another strong run to close out the half. A Juwan White lay-in at the 4:20 mark jumpstarted a 14-2 run capped off on a pair of Zander Baker free throws with just over a minute remaining, extending the lead to 44-23 before taking a 45-25 lead heading into the halftime break.
• Second Half
  • MACU continued to build onto its lead immediately after the break, outscoring the Falcons 18-7 through the first four minutes as a steal and fastbreak layup by Marque Wilkerson with 15:49 remining made it a 63-32 game.
  • While KCC was able to score six of the next eight, the Evangels countered with a 17-unanswered run as back-to-back Magok Manyang layups gave MACU its largest lead of the contest at 82-38 with 9:11 left.
  • After trading the next 18 points, Kansas Christian trimmed some off some of its deficit against the Evangels' reserves, outscoring MACU 15-4 over the final six minutes to wrap-up the 95-62 final.

GAME NOTES

• On the offensive end, Mid-America Christian shot the ball well, going 36-for-73 (49.3 percent) from the field, but did struggle from the three-point arc and the foul line, going 5-of-18 (27.8 percent) from beyond the arc while knocking down 18-for-35 (51.4 percent) from the line.
• The Evangels defense was able to hold Kansas Christian to just 22-for-60 (36.7 percent) shooting, including 10-of-30 (33.3 percent) from three.
• Mid-America Christian was also able to significantly control the rebounding and turnover battles, out-boarding the Falcons 60-41 while also forcing 17 KCC turnovers while committing just seven of its own.
• Overall, six Evangels finished in double-figure scoring with Keeshawn Mason and Juwan White scoring 15 points apiece in their MACU debuts. Not only did White shoot a highly-efficient 5-of-7 from the field, going 2-for-4 from three and 3-of-4 from the charity stripe, he also led the team with seven assists while committing only one turnover to go with four boards. Mason also shot the ball well, going 7-of-12 from the field to go along with four rebounds.
• Tarrence Gaines also turned in a 14-point, seven-rebound performance to with three assists while Josiah Fulcher in his Evangels debut poured in 11 points and led the team's rebounding efforts with eight boards as well as three dimes.
• After struggling on the offensive end in the first half, Magok Manyang put together a strong second half by scoring nine of his 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting to go with seven boards and notched a career-high four steals.
• Marque Wilkerson rounded out MACU's double-digit scorers with 10 points on 4-of-9 from the field and 2-for-2 from the line in his Evangels debut while Quentin Woodson was MACU's most effective bench player with eight points on 3-of-7 from the field with five rebounds.
• By getting the victory, MACU improved to 4-0 all-time against Kansas Christian, winning its third matchup in the last three years. The Evangels also continued their incredible run of winning their season-openers, getting their 16^th-straight season-opening victory.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will be back in-action on Monday as the Evangels will host crosstown foe Randall for a 6 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center.