OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Men's Basketball team faced its stiffest test ever from UNT Dallas inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday night as the Trailblazers rallied from 15 points down to make things interesting, but the Evangels were able to hold on for the 76-74 victory.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Josiah Fulcher – 25 Points, 9-16 FG, 3-7 3FG, 4-4 FT, 4 Reb, 2 Assists, 2 Steals
• Juwan White – 19 Point, 5-10 FG, 3-4 3FG, 6-6 FT, 5 Reb, 3 Assists, 2 Steals
• Magok Manyang – 11 Points, 4-7 FG, 3-5 3FG, 6 Reb, 2 Assists

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian (4-0, 1-0 SAC) came out firing on all cylinders right out of the gate by scoring on its first two possessions on a Josiah Fulcher midrange jumper and a Magok Manyang right corner three off a Juwan White drive and dish to make it 5-0 with not even a minute elapsed into the contest.
  • After Darion Jones gave UNT Dallas (3-1, 0-1 SAC) its first bucket at the 18:08 mark, the MACU defense clamped down to hold the Trailblazers to without a field goal over a five-and-a-half-minute stretch as an 11-3 MACU run was capped off on a Quentin Woodson foul shot with 13:19 remaining to extend the Evangels' edge to 16-5.
  • After Vernon Johnson got a baseline lay-in to fall from the right side to finally snap the UNTD field goal drought at the 12:47 mark, MACU built out its lead to its largest of the half on a Marque Wilkerson fastbreak lay-in off the Woodson steal before Tarrence Gaines buried a left corner three off Shannon Strickland's drive and kick, setting the score to 21-7 with 10:06 remaining.
  • The Traiblazers chiseled away at the MACU advantage over the next seven minutes as a 14-4 UNT Dallas surge was finished off on a Jayden Blair-Johnson jumper to close it to 25-21 with 3:42 to go.
  • Back-to-back White treys allowed the Evangels to stretch their lead back to double-digits before Manyang ended MACU's scoring for the half with his second three of the night with 1:10 left to make it 36-23.
  • UNT Dallas made a heads-up play to finish off the half as Johnson-Blair with 1.6 seconds left on a baseline inbound threw it off the back of White guarding the baseline and laid it in to beat the buzzer to cut it to a 36-25 game at the break.
• Second Half
  • Even though UNT Dallas opened the second half by scoring the first five points to make it a seven-point game, the Evangels countered with an eight-unanswered run to grab its largest lead.
  • Following a Josiah Fulcher three-ball, Tarrence Gaines deflected a pass to Fulcher breaking the other way for a two-handed fastbreak flush before White drilled his third trey from the left elbow to extend the MACU advantage to 44-29 at the 16:51 mark.
  • Over the next 10 minutes, MACU and UNTD went blow-for-blow as the Trailblazers were unable to knock the Evangels' edge to below double-digits until a Greg Crawford finish with 6:46 left jumpstarted a 6-0 run as Blair-Johnson soaked a pair of free throws at the 6:08 mark to knock it down to 62-54.
  • With four-and-a-half left, MACU managed to extend its lead back to 12 on a Woodson dunk that rattled out and back in before the Trailblazers swung back with seven-unanswered as Vernon Johnson's tip drill bucket brought it to within five at 68-63 with 2:33 left.
  • With 1:40 remaining, Keeshawn Mason came up with one of the biggest buckets of the contest by powering in a tightly-contest left side lay-in off a couple of power dribbles, but Crawford answered back with a three-point play of his own on the ensuing possession to trim it to 72-68.
  • Both teams came up with some huge defensive stops, but a MACU foul with nine seconds left gave UNTD the chance to cut it to a two-point game. However, after making the first, Johnson clanked his second freebie off the iron as Gaines came up with a huge board and drained a pair of clutch free throws with seven seconds left.
  • The last few seconds of the contest featured a wild chain of events as Daniel Sohn got a fastbreak layup to drop and even though White buried a pair of free throws with just under two seconds left to once again put the MACU lead back to five, Johnson-Blair knocked down a half-court shot that ultimately didn't matter in the end as MACU had secured the victory by a final score of 76-74.

MATCH NOTES

• Both teams were highly efficient on the offensive end as UNT Dallas finished the contest by shooting 28-for-61 (45.9 percent) from the field while Mid-America Christian was able to go 26-of-58 (44.8 percent) from the floor.
• The three-point arc and foul line played vital factors in the result as MACU put together its best deep ball performance of the season, shooting 10-for-22 (45.5 percent) from downtown while the Trailblazers could only muster 5-for-19 (26.3 percent) from range.
• While the Trailblazers were able to get to the charity stripe more often, MACU was the more efficient team from the line as the Evangels finished 14-for-19 (73.7 percent) compared to 13-of-22 (59.1 percent) for UNTD.
• Even though MACU managed to win the rebounding battle by a 39-33 margin, the Trailblazers were able to force the Evangels into more turnovers with a 16-13 differential.
• Josiah Fulcher led the Mid-America Christian offensive efforts with a game-high and career-high 25 points on 9-for-16 shooting to go with 3-of-7 from three-point range and 4-for-4 from the stripe while also finishing with four boards, two assists and a pair of steals.
• Juwan White was also a force on the offensive end, finishing with 19 points on 5-of-10 shooting, 3-for-4 from three and 6-for-6 from the line with five rebounds, three assists and two thefts.
• Magok Manyang was MACU's only other double-digit scorer with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting, going 3-for-5 from three while tying Shannon Strickland on the glass with a team-best six rebounds.
• Even though MACU improved to 8-0 all-time against UNT Dallas since the Trailblazers joined the SAC during the 2021-22 season, the matchups have been competitive the last two seasons with two of the last three meetings being decided by seven points or less.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now prepare for a crucial SAC road showdown in Waxahachie, Texas on Saturday as the Evangels will face Nelson for a 4 p.m. tip-off inside the Sheaffer Center.