SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. – The MACU Men's Basketball team struggled to slow down a John Brown three-point shooting effort that saw the Golden Eagles go 12-for-24 from beyond the arc as the Evangels fell 76-70 inside Bill George Arena on Thursday night.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Josiah Fulcher – 20 Points, 8-15 FG, 2-6 3FG, 2-2 FT, 6 Reb
• Juwan White – 16 Points, 5-7 FG, 5-6 FT, 6 Reb
• Magok Manyang – 11 Points, 4-10 FG, 7 Reb, 2 Blocks

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian (5-2, 2-2 SAC) opened the contest by scoring four of the first six points on a Magok Manyang offensive board and put-back and a Juwan White bucket with 18:08 to go before John Brown (4-2, 2-0 SAC) scored the next eight unanswered as Trae Oetting's score made it a 10-4 Golden Eagles lead with 15:14 left.
  • The Evangels swung back by scoring six of the next eight as a pair of Manyang free throws closed it to 12-10 at the 12:19 mark, before JBU scored six of the next nine off a pair of threes from LaPre George in-between Tarrence Gaines' triple from the right wing to set the score to 18-13 with 10:48 to go.
  • A strong Marque Wilkerson take to the basket on jumpstarted a 7-2 MACU run over the next three minutes as White buried a step-back three to tie it at 20-20 with 7:25 remaining in the half.
  • Following a Drew Miller fadeaway three from the left side at the 6:12 mark briefly gave the Golden Eagles a 23-20 lead, the MACU defense came up huge, holding John Brown to no points over a near four-minute stretch.
  • In the meantime, the Evangels strung together nine-unanswered on a Josiah Fulcher pull-up jumper and fastbreak lay-in, a Manyang left-corner three and a pair of Wilkerson foul shots to seize a 29-23 advantage with 3:15 left.
  • John Brown scored the next four to cut it to a two-point game, but White's drive and step-through lay-in with 1:27 to go was the last score of the stanza, sending the Evangels into the break with the 31-27 advantage.
• Second Half
  • John Brown kept it to a two-possession game through the first five minutes before Gaines splashed a left-wing three off of Quentin Woodson's offensive rebound to give MACU its largest lead of the contest at 47-39 with 14:19 remaining.
  • The Golden Eagles chiseled away at the MACU advantage over the next four minutes, eventually whittling it down to three after Elijah Lawrence picked the Evangels' pocket and went in for the fastbreak lay-in to make it 51-48.
  • MACU countered with five-unanswered of their own with Manyang getting a floater to fall before White nailed a pair of free throws and Gaines added a throw with 9:44 to go to stretch the Evangels' edge back to 56-48.
  • Miller once again got hot for JBU, scoring eight-unanswered of his own over the next two minutes to tie the game up before MACU countered with a pair of buckets from Woodson and White to put the Evangels back in-front 60-56 with 6:24 left.
  • John Brown made it difficult for the Evangels to key on just Miller and Lepra George caught fire for the Golden Eagles as he scored eight during JBU's 8-2 run to take a brief 64-62 lead before MACU tied it up on White's floater in the lane with 3:48 to go.
  • On the ensuing possession, an Oetting right corner three ultimately gave the Golden Eagles the lead for good as the Evangels were unable find the tying or go-ahead buckets over the final three minutes.
  • After a Klei Nagode free throw briefly pushed the JBU edge up to five, Fulcher utilized a screen on the left wing as he pulled and popped from the top of the key, drawing it back to a two-point game at 72-70 with 1:04 remaining.
  • That was the closest MACU could cut into the deficit as the Golden Eagles put the game away from the free throw line in the final minute while the Evangels came up empty before suffering the 76-70 defeat.

MATCH NOTES

• While the shooting numbers between the two squads were relatively even with Mid-America Christian going 25-for-56 (44.6 percent) from the field and John Brown knocking down 27-of-61 (44.3 percent), the difference in the contest came from the three-point arc with the Golden Eagles shooting 12-for-24 (50 percent) to MACU's 6-of-22 (27.3 percent).
• The Evangels were the better half on the glass, out-rebounding the Golden Eagles 36-31 while JBU won the turnover battle in a relatively clean game for both sides, forcing 12 MACU turnovers while committing just eight of its own.
• MACU downright struggled to find an answer for the dynamic duo of LaPre George and Drew Miller, who combined to score 53 of JBU's 76 points in the contest while combining to shoot 19-for-34 from the field, including 11-of-19 from the three-point arc.
• Once again, Josiah Fulcher led the offensive efforts for MACU as he netted 20 points on 8-for-15 from the field and 2-for-6 from three while pulling down six boards.
• Juwan White also put up a solid performance on the offensive end, finishing with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting and went 5-for-6 from the charity stripe to go with six rebounds as well.
• Magok Manyang was the only other Evangel to break into double-figures, scoring 11 points to go with a team-leading seven boards and blocked a pair of shots.
• While MACU put up a tough fight, it was unable to pick up its first road win of the season as the Evangels dropped to 0-2 away from the Gaulke Activity Center while holding an unblemished 5-0 record at home this year.
• The loss to the Golden Eagles snapped MACU's three-game win streak over John Brown.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will be back inside the Gaulke on Saturday as the Evangels host SAC newcomer College of the Ozarks for a 3:45 p.m. tip-off.