OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Men's basketball team put up a strong shooting performance outscoring the USAO Drovers 87-69 inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday night. After a slow start the Evangels caught flame and were unable to be extinguished by the Drovers, leading to a season high of 87 points scored in conference play for MACU.

TOP PERFORMERS

• Josiah Fulcher – 17 Points, 7-10 FG, 5 Reb, 3 Ast, 1 Stl
• Marque Wilkerson – 14 Points, 5-10 FG, 5 Reb
• Zander Baker – 13 Points, 3-3 FG, 3-3 3PM, 4-4 FT, 3 Reb
• Tarrence Gaines – 11 Points, 5-10 FG, 6 Reb, 1 Blk

 
GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian (10-3, 6-3 SAC) saw an early 8-2 deficit within the first two minutes as University of Science & Arts (5-8, 3-6 SAC) started 3-of-3 from the field with Jaden Harrell capping off the run on a three-ball from the top of the arc.
  • Back-to-back threes from Marque Wilkerson and Tarrence Gaines cut the Drovers lead to 17-16, however USAO struck for another 8-2 surge to expand the lead to 25-18 with 8:54 to go.
  • The Evangels bounced back, scoring 11 of the next 16 points to capture their first lead of the contest on Juwan White's left-handed finger roll following Zander Baker's trey to put MACU up 30-29 with 4:46 remaining.
  • It was all gas no brakes for the Evangels as the run continued with 10 more unanswered points capped off on a Josiah Fulcher three-pointer that concluded the 13-0 run in which five different Evangels put up a bucket.
  • With :50 seconds to go White knocked down a pair of free throws and Fulcher finished off scoring in the half on a halfcourt interception translating to an easy jam at the rack to take a 42-31 lead into the halftime break.
• Second Half
  • After trading buckets for the first 2:37, Magok Manyang's takeaway allowed Gaines to convert the easy fast break lay-up to jump-start a 13-0 run ending on a corner three from Manyang off Fulcher's assist to bring MACU's lead to 59-37 with 13:45 to play.
  • The Drovers got back in the scoring column briefly with a lay-up plus the foul conversion by Zach Hays to make it 59-40, however Baker led the response banging a three from both sides of the elbow in part of an 8-0 surge to make it 67-40 in favor of the Evangels.
  • Over the last 11:22 both teams were able to find success from the field, especially the Drovers who went on to outscore MACU 29-20, but it would be far from enough as the Evangels cruised to an 87-69 victory.  

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian University outshot University of Science & Arts by a good margin going 30-for-59 (50.8 percent) in contrast to the Drovers 19-of-52 (36.5 percent). MACU also had a +13 advantage on the boards 43-30 and shot 8-16 (50 percent) behind the arc compared to USAO's 5-19 (26.3 percent).
• Offensively the Evangels did great, shooting over 50 percent from the field in conference play for the first time this season, and a second half of 45 points marked the most points in a half in conference play during the 2024-2025 campaign.   
• 87 points also marked a season high in conference play and was the most points the Evangels have scored since the 95-81 victory over Randall on Oct. 28, 2024.
• It was also the second time this season Mid-America Christian had six players put up 10 or more points, with Fulcher (17), Wilkerson (14), Baker (13), Gaines (11), Mason (10), and Manyang (10).
• Redshirt freshman Zander Baker rose to the occasion making his first career start he did not miss, going 3-for-3 from the field all behind the arc as well as 4-of-4 from the charity stripe, Baker also had three rebounds, an assist, and a steal.
• Josiah Fulcher led the contest in scoring with 17, he finished 7-of-10 with six boards, three assists and a steal.
• Marque Wilkerson also contributed greatly scoring 14 of the 26 bench points for MACU, Wilkerson went 5-of-10 from the field with five rebounds.
• With the win it snaps a nine-game losing skid to USAO dating back to Jan. 7, 2021 with an 18-20 record overall.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will hit the road Saturday, Jan. 4 to take on SAC opponent Texas Wesleyan with a tip-off set for 4 p.m. inside the Sid Richardson Center.