OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Men's Basketball team suffered its toughest test since its road win at UNT Dallas on Jan. 16 as the Evangels came up with a huge defensive stop at the very end to seal a 74-72 win over John Brown to wrap-up its five-game home stand inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday night.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Juwan White – 17 Points, 4-10 FG, 8-8 FT, 5 Assists, 3 Reb
• Tarrence Gaines – 16 Points, 6-11 FG, 3-5 3FG, 5 Reb, 3 Assists, 3 Steals
• Josiah Fulcher – 16 Points, 6-11 FG, 3-4 FT, 3 Reb, 2 Assists
• Keeshawn Mason – 9 Points, 4-9 FG, 5 Reb, 3 Assists, 2 Blocks

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • After Mid-America Christian (17-5, 13-5 SAC) scored four of the first six on buckets from Josiah Fulcher and Keeshawn Mason, John Brown (13-8, 11-6 SAC) rattled off five-straight from its leading scorer Drew Miller to grab a 7-4 advantage with 17:46 remaining.
  • The Evangels battled back to tie it at 11-all on Tarrence Gaines fastbreak three-ball at the 15:14 mark, but both teams went silent over the next three minutes as Jack Ullom's lay-in with 12:40 left broke the tie.
  • MACU pushed ahead behind a 9-4 surge capped off on Juwan White's step-back three with 8:24 to go make it a 20-17 Evangels' edge.
  • A LePre George triple with 6:18 left briefly put the Golden Eagles back in-front at 25-24, but the Evangels countered by scoring eight of the next nine as another Gaines long ball extended the MACU lead to 32-26 with just under four minutes remaining.
  • John Brown strung together seven in a row to briefly take a 35-34 advantage with 1:23 left on Ullom's three, but MACU's defense clamped down the rest of the way as a Mason foul shot tied it before White hit a cross-over pull-up midrange jumper at the buzzer to send the Evangels into the half with the 37-35 lead.
• Second Half
  • John Brown scored seven of the first nine through the first 1:30 to grab a 42-39 edge on Elijah Lawrence's three, but Mason's flush on a nice White dime on the ensuing possession fired up a dominant 16-3 run over the next five minutes as Josiah Fulcher's floater with 13:50 to go made it a 54-45 MACU lead.
  • The Golden Eagles managed to get four back on another Ullom right-wing three and a Boaz Camp foul shot at the 13:07 mark to close it to 54-49, but MACU once again swung back with Gaines getting the hoop and the harm with 12:51 to go to extend the edge back to 57-49.
  • JBU surged back again as a seven-point surge capped off by a Lawrence and-one made it a one-point game, but Mason once again snapped the streak by hooking in a lay-in from the right paint at the 10:42 mark to set the score to 59-56.
  • Both teams went silent over the next few minutes before Magok Manyang finally snapped the cold spell with a three from the left wing with 8:21 left before JBU immediately answered on the next possession with a Lukas Gabani and-one before Miller's ball fake and lay-in with 7:39 to go made it a one-point game at 62-61.
  • The Golden Eagles briefly seized a one-point advantage on a pair of Oetting free throws at the 5:10 mark, but White carried MACU back in-front with a floating midrange jumper from the right elbow before scoring the next four points from the free throw line to make it a 68-63 Evangels' edge with 3:10 left.
  • MACU maintained a two-score advantage until the final minute until Ullom's three-ball with 40 seconds left cut it to a 71-70 game before Fulcher came up with a huge bucket on the next possession as he had a strong take down the right lane and lay-in to beat the shot clock to set the score to 73-70 with 12 seconds to go.
  • JBU once again cut it to a one-point game on a pair of Oetting foul shots with nine seconds on the clock before Fulcher knocked down the front end of two foul shots with six seconds left.
  • The Golden Eagles had a chance when Fulcher missed his second shot, but as JBU tried to advance the ball for a potential tying or game-winning shot, Woodson picked Lawrence's pocket at midcourt and dribbled out the remaining time to close out the 74-72 win.

GAME NOTES

• The two teams were relatively even offensively as Mid-America Christian shot slightly better from the field at 26-for-56 (46.4 percent) to 24-of-43 (45.3 percent) for John Brown while the Golden Eagles were a hair better from three at 8-for-24 (33.3 percent) to 7-of-23 (30.4 percent) for MACU.
• Part of the reason why JBU was able to hang around in the contest was due to its outstanding free throw shooting, knocking down 16-for-18 (88.9 percent) while MACU finished 15-of-20 (75 percent) from the stripe.
• While John Brown won the rebounding battle 35-28, MACU's pressure defense gave the Golden Eagles some trouble as they committed 16 turnovers while the Evangels gave it up only 10 times.
• Juwan White led MACU's offensive efforts with a game-high 17 points on 4-of-10 shooting, going 8-for-8 from the free throw line while dishing out five assists to go with three rebounds.
• Tarrence Gaines and Josiah Fulcher were the only other MACU players to finish in double-figures with 16 points apiece while Gaines finished tied for the team-lead with five boards to go with three steals.
• Keeshawn Mason narrowly missed breaking into double-figures with nine points with five rebounds and notched a pair of blocks.
• Quentin Woodson tied his career-high output with four steals, matching the mark he set in a 72-69 win at Bethel (Kan.) on Dec. 16, 2022.
• With the win and a Wayland Baptist loss at UNT Dallas on Thursday, the Evangels now sit in a three-way tie for second with the Pioneers and Langston for second in the SAC standings, just a game back of Nelson (14-4) at the standings.
• The result also allowed MACU to split the season series with John Brown after the Evangels suffered a 76-70 defeat to the Golden Eagles inside Bill George Arena on Nov. 21, 2024.
• Before the start of the game, Mid-America Christian honored Josh Gamblin, presenting him a commemorative game ball signed by the team to celebrate his 200^th career win that he recorded in a victory over Oklahoma City on Saturday.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will be back on the road for the first time in a few weeks as the Evangels prepare for a trip to Point Lookout, Missouri on Saturday for a 4 p.m. tip-off against College of the Ozarks inside Keeter Gymnasium.