WICHITA, Kan. – The MACU men's basketball team saw its sensational 2023-24 season come to an end in the second round of the NAIA Tournament at the Garvey Center on Saturday night as the Evangels fell 76-58 to No. 2 seed and nationally fourth-ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan.
 
GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian (24-9) found its in a deep hole through the first six minutes as Oklahoma Wesleyan (31-2) jumped out to a 13-0 run capped off on a Kaleb Stokes three from the left wing with 16:48 to go.
  • After Jasiah Lewis and Jaden Lietzke traded buckets, Mikel Henderson injected some life into the Evangels offense three from the top of the key at the 13:34 mark as MACU briefly knocked the Eagles' edge to single-digits at 16-7 on a pair of Magok Manyang free throws with 12:57 left.
  • Two OKWU scores from Jaden Walton and DJ Talton briefly pushed the Eagles' edge to 20-7, but a tough Quentin Woodson right-handed lay-in after splitting through a triple team started a 7-0 run as three Eddie Smith foul shots and a pair of throws from Seth Hurd closed the gap to 20-14 with 9:49 remaining.
  • Mid-America went through another three-minute cold spell as five-unanswered OKWU points extended its edge back to double-digits before some sensational ball movement set up Lewis for an open three at the top of the key to bring it back to a 25-17 game at the 6:21 mark.
  • The Evangels managed to knocked the Oklahoma Wesleyan advantage down to seven on a pair of occasions on triples from Mikel Henderson, the last coming from the left wing to close it to 32-25 with 3:13 to go.
  • MACU struggled to score over the final three minutes as the Eagles closed out the half with seven-unanswered, including a Talton coast-to-coast layup at the buzzer to set the score to 39-25 at the break.
• Second Half
  • Oklahoma Wesleyan's late surge in the first half carried over to the second half as the Eagles scored seven of the first nine points out of the break with Dylan Phillip's right-wing triple extending the OKWU edge to 46-27 with 18:18 left.
  • MACU's defense was able to clamp down and hold the Eagles scoreless over a four-minute stretch, but the Evangels were equally challenged to find a bucket as MACU could only notch three points on free throws from Lewis and Hurd to close it back to a 16-point deficit.
  • OKWU extended its lead back to 21 on another Phillip three and a Taylen Miller theft and coast-to-coast layup to set the score to 51-30 with 13:39 remaining.
  • After an Amari Woods pull-up jumper at the 9:04 mark gave the Eagles their largest lead of the game at 59-36, the Evangels finally started to find an offensive stride. On the ensuing possession, Eddie Smith stepped into a left-wing three off the dribble to start a two-minute stretch where the senior guard canned a trifecta of triples with his top of the key try with 6:21 to go made it a 61-45 game.
  • Following a pair of Jaden Wilson foul shots, Mid-America Christian put together its final and strongest surge of the contest as MACU went on a 13-3 run as two Magok Manyang free throws following a steal closed it to a 66-58 game with 4:05 left.
  • Unfortunately, MACU was unable to climb any closer as the Eagles held the Evangels scoreless on 0-for-7 shooting over the final four minutes before pulling away with the 76-58 win.

GAME NOTES

• Facing one of the toughest defenses in the NAIA, Mid-America Christian struggled to find its rhythm offensively, finishing the contest on 16-for-54 (29.6 percent) shooting, going 8-of-32 (25 percent from three. However, one positive MACU was able to take away was its efficient foul shooting, going 18-of-23 (78.3 percent) from the stripe.
• Oklahoma Wesleyan put together an efficient game from the field, shooting 23-of-54 (42.6 percent) while hitting on 6-for-20 (30 percent) from three. Despite entering the contest as a porous free throw shooting team, OKWU converted its second-most tosses in a game this season on 24-for-32 (75 percent) from the line.
• The Evangels struggled to slow down one of the best rebounding teams in the NAIA on the glass as the Eagles won the rebounding battle 47-27 with a 14-8 edge on the offensive glass.
• Mid-America Christian did win the turnover battle by forcing OKWU into 17 giveaways to just 14 turnovers for MACU, but the Evangels struggled to capitalize as the Eagles held a 13-8 edge in points off takeaways.
• Eddie Smith led three Evangels in double-figures in his final game at MACU, scoring 14 points on 3-of-8 shooting, going 3-for-5 from three and 5-of-5 from the line. Mikel Henderson and Jasiah Lewis also tallied double-digits in their final MACU games as the senior tandem finished with 13 points apiece.
• Seth Hurd led MACU on the glass in his final game with seven rebounds to go with seven points.
• With MACU's season ending, several players wrapped up the year with NAIA Era (2007-present) single-season top 10 marks. With his 49 blocked shots on the year, junior forward Magok Manyang tied Chris Runnels (2014-15) for the third-most in a season while his 1.5 blocks per game matched Justin Bogle (2018-19) for the second-best per contest.
• In earning All-SAC First Team honors, Hurd put up one of the most prolific shooting seasons for MACU in the low post, scoring on the fourth-best field goal percentage (56.4 percent) in season book. The Tulsa, Oklahoma standout also closes out his MACU career with a pair of career top 10 marks by shooting the second-best percentage (55.4) and made the 10^th-most field goals (291).
• Lewis dazzled from the point guard position in his final year at MACU, dishing out the seventh-most assists (138) and tallying the seventh-best assists per game (4.2) average in the NAIA Era. The Brooklyn, N.Y. native wrapped up his career with 219 total assists for the eighth-most in the books.
• Henderson finished the season with the eighth-best free throw percentage (80.2, 65-81) and made the ninth-most threes (69) while DeAngelo Adkins pulled down the ninth-most rebounds in a year (210).
• Mid-America Christian wraps-up the year as the best scoring defense in the team's NAIA Era as MACU allowed just 67.9 ppg on the second-best field goal percentage defense (40.2) while also posting the fourth-best three-point percentage defense (31.6).
• Under ninth-year head coach Josh Gamblin, the Evangels closed out their season with a 24-9 overall record and went 17-5 in Sooner Athletic Conference play to finish second in the league standings. The year marked the seventh time in the last 10 years MACU had qualified for the NAIA Tournament and have won at least one tourney game in five of its six trips (2020 tournament was canceled amidst the COVID-19 pandemic).