SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – In just the third-ever meeting between the two programs, the MACU Men's Basketball team captured its first ever win at Evangel as the Evangels battled back from a nine-point second half deficit to come away with the 73-64 victory inside AGFinancial Arena on Tuesday night.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Josiah Fulcher – 16 Points, 6-12 FG, 2-4 3FG, 2-2 FT, 4 Steals, 2 Reb, 2 Assists
• Juwan White – 15 Points, 5-14 FG, 4-4 FT, 8 Reb, 5 Assists
• Tarrence Gaines – 14 Points, 5-11 FG, 3-8 3FG, 9 Reb, 2 Assists
• Keeshawn Mason – 11 Points, 5-12 FG, 9 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian (9-3) got off to a fast start, opening with a 9-2 run over the first 3:17 as Magok Manyang scored the first five points before layups by Juwan White and Keeshawn Mason built the seven-point advantage.
  • After a Harrison Doennig bucket gave Evangel (5-7) its first field goal, Tarrence Gaines stretched MACU's lead to its largest of the half with a three-pointer from the top of the key to make it 12-4 with 15:11 to play.
  • The Valor chiseled away at the Evangels' advantage over the next five minutes as pair of Manrique Alvarado foul shots cut it to a one-point game at the 10:38 mark before Marque Wilkerson picked the Evangel's pocket to go in for the fastbreak dunk to push it back to three at 19-16 with just over 10 minutes remaining.
  • Evangel grabbed its first lead after scoring six-unanswered over the next two minutes before MACU briefly surged back in-front 23-22 following a Keeshawn Mason fallaway jumper on the left baseline and a Gaines contested fastbreak lay-in with 6:10 left.
  • EU surged back in-front by catching fire from beyond the arc, burying a trio of three-pointers during a 9-2 run as Carson Cavalier's deep three from the top of the key made it a 31-25 Valor advantage.
  • Juwan White scored four of the next six points in the contest to cut it back to a four-point game with 1:58 left, but Evangel closed out the half with a 5-2 run to take a 38-31 lead into the break.
• Second Half
  • After giving up the opening bucket to face its largest deficit of the contest, Mid-America Christian bounced back in a big way by going a 14-2 run as Gaines splashed a left corner three to give MACU the lead before Manyang buried a pair of foul shots to stretch the advantage to 45-42 with 14:38 left.
  • Evangel answered back with back-to-back three-pointers from Bryce Ware and Isaac Wootton to give the Valor the three-point edge before Gaines buried a three from the top of the key to tie it back up at 48-all with 13:27 to go.
  • MACU struggled on the offensive end over the next five minutes The Valor scored eight of the next 10 points to grab a 56-50 advantage on Ty Campbell's midrange jumper with 8:53 remaining.
  • A White steal and fastbreak lay-in at the 8:21 mark stemmed the tide for MACU as the Evangels went on an 11-2 surge capped off on a Gaines lay-in with just under five minutes to go make it a 61-58 lead.
  • A Josh Mason three on the ensuing possession briefly tied the contest up, but the Evangels once again swung the momentum back in their favor as tough, contested Mason lay-in and a Fulcher blocked shot set White up for a deep right-wing three before Fulcher added a deep three from the right side of his own to cap MACU's eight-point swing, setting the score to 69-61 at the 2:44 mark.
  • Alvarado scored Evangel's only bucket over the final four-and-a-half minutes with a three from the right elbow the 1:54 mark, but MACU's suffocating defense shut down the Valor the rest of the way as White buried a pair of foul shots with 31 seconds left before Fulcher got the fastbreak flush off the Tarrence Gaines defensive rebound to seal the 73-64 road victory.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian was more effective shooting from the field, going 27-for-61 (44.3 percent) to Evangel's 23-of-60 (38.3 percent). Even though the Valor were the better three-point shooting team at 11-for-28 (39.3 percent) to MACU's 7-of-23 (30.4 percent), the Evangels were more effective at getting to the line, shooting 12-for-15 (80 percent) to just 7-of-10 (70 percent) for EU.
• The Evangels won both the rebounding and turnover battles, out-boarding the Valor 36-33 while forcing 15 EU turnovers while committing just 11.
• Josiah Fulcher led a balanced MACU scoring effort with a game-high 16 points, while shooting 6-for-12 from the field, 2-for-4 from three and 2-of-2 from the line to go with pair of assists while being huge on the defensive end, tying a season-high four steals.
• Despite a tough shooting night for Juwan White, the senior guard put together a phenomenal floor game, finishing with 14 points on 5-of-14 from the floor and 4-for-4 from the stipe to go with eight boards and a team-high five assists while committing just one turnover.
• Tarrence Gaines and Keeshawn Mason both narrowly missed double-doubles in the contest as Gaines finished with 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting, going 3-for-8 from three to go with nine rebounds and a pair of assists while Mason tallied 11 points on 5-for-12 from the field to go with nine boards.
• By getting the win, the Evangels avenged an 82-75 home loss that it suffered to the Valor inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Dec. 14, 2023.

UP NEXT
Mid-America Christian will be back at home to start off the new year as the Evangels host Science & Arts for an 8 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Jan. 2.