OKLAHOMA CITY – One of the hottest teams in the Sooner Athletic Conference, the MACU Men's Basketball team will be looking for its eighth-straight before entering its bye week as the Evangels square off against College of the Ozarks inside Keeter Gymnasium for a 4 p.m. tip-off on Saturday.
 
SEASON REPORT

• Record: 17-5 (13-5 SAC)
• Last Game: Won vs. John Brown (Ark.) – 74-72 – Jan. 30, 2025 – Gaulke Activity Center
• Stat Leaders:
  • Points: Josiah Fulcher (349, 15.9 ppg), Juwan White (304, 13.8 ppg)
  • FG Percentage (Min 3 FGM/G): Josiah Fulcher (49.8, 132-265), Keeshawn Mason (48.2, 95-197)
  • 3FG Percentage (Min 1 3FGM/G): Magok Manyang (39.2, 40-102), Josiah Fulcher (39.0, 32-82)
  • FT Percentage (Min 2 FTM/G): Josiah Fulcher (85.5, 53-62), Juwan White (84.2, 64-76)
  • Rebounds: Tarrence Gaines (125, 5.7 rpg), Magok Manyang (122, 5.5 rpg)
  • Assists: Juwan White (98, 4.5 apg), Josiah Fulcher (58, 2.6 apg)
  • Steals: Josiah Fulcher (29, 1.3 spg), Juwan White (27, 1.2 spg)
  • Blocks: Tarrence Gaines (17, 0.8 bpg), Keeshawn Mason (16, 0.7 bpg)
• Team Notes:
  • Mid-America Christian faced one of its toughest tests during its current win streak as John Brown came into the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday night and gave the Evangels a game. The contest came down to the wire as the Golden Eagles had a chance to either tie or take the lead in the waning seconds, but Quentin Woodson came up with a huge steal at midcourt and dribbled out the rest to wrap-up the 74-72 victory.
  • The theft for Woodson at the end marked the senior forward's fourth steal of the game, which tied his career-high that he matched from a huge 72-69 road win at Bethel (Kan.) on Dec. 16, 2022.
  • One statistical anomaly for MACU, who is the third-best rebounding team in the SAC at a plus-6.5 margin, was that the win for the Evangels marked the first time they won a game while getting out-rebounded. Heading into the contest, MACU was 0-4 in games it got beat on the boards, but the Golden Eagles were unable to get the win despite holding a 35-28 lead over the Evangels on the glass. However, MACU was able to overcome due their feisty defense forcing JBU into committing 16 turnovers, doubling the amount the Golden Eagles committed in their home venue during the previous meeting.
  • The Evangels currently own the longest winning streak in the conference as current SAC leader Nelson owns the second-longest at three. The win for MACU on Thursday night was a crucial one as MACU sits in a three-way tie for second in the league standings, just a game back of Nelson (14-4) and even with No. 18 Langston and Wayland Baptist.

SCOUTING REPORT
College of the Ozarks (Mo.)

• Record: 8-12 (6-11 SAC)
• Last Game: Won at Southwestern Christian – 77-76 – Jan. 30, 2025 – Oklahoma City
• Series vs MACU (2012-): COFO leads 6-4
• Last Game vs MACU: MACU won 67-63 – Nov. 23, 2024 – Gaulke Activity Center
• Series Streak: MACU won 1
• Players to Watch:
  • Garrett Snyder – SO – G
    • 338 Points (16.9 ppg), 116-212 FG (54.7%), 35-62 3FG (56.5%), 71-77 FT (92.2%), 85 Reb (4.3 rpg), 43 Assists (2.1 apg)
  • Andrew Dalton – SO – G
    • 289 Points (14.4 ppg), 96-213 FG (45.1%), 35-95 3FG (36.8%), 62-89 FT (69.7%), 101 Reb (5.0 rpg), 36 Assists (1.8 apg)
  • Caleb Faulkner – SR – G
    • 240 Points (12.0 ppg), 83-221 FG (37.6%), 53-148 3FG (35.8%), 21-26 FT (80.8%), 50 Reb (2.5 rpg), 20 Assists (1.0 apg)
• Team Notes:
  • Currently trying to contend for one of the last few spots in the SAC Tournament, College of the Ozarks came up with a crucial 77-76 road win against Southwestern Christian inside Abe Lemons Arena on Thursday. In that victory, Andrew Dalton put the Bobcats in-front with 12 seconds left before SCU missed from both the free throw line and a three at the buzzer as COFO sealed the win.
  • The Bobcats have been a bit challenged on the defensive end in SAC play this season as COFO is giving up the third-most points (78.7) on the league's worst field goal defense (48.2) as well as the second-worst three-point defense rate (36.5). Ozarks has not fared much better offensively either, possessing the SAC's ninth-rated scoring offense (71.1) while shooting 43.4 percent from the field and 36.0 percent from downtown.
  • Mid-America Christian will be needing to try to lock down one of the most lethal pure shooters in the conference in Garrett Snyder. The sophomore guard currently owns the league's fifth-best overall shooting percentage (54.7) as well as the best three-point rate (56.5 percent).
  • While Mid-America Christian owned a double-digit lead on multiple occasions in their previous meeting inside the Gaulke back on Nov. 23, College of the Ozarks refused to go away, eventually battling back to tie it at 42-42 with just over 12 minutes left to go in the second half. However, MACU was able to grab the lead back and never conceded it the rest of the way before holding on for the 67-63 win. Magok Manyang came up big for MACU as the senior forward scored a career-high 23 points and went 5-for-7 from behind the arc to go with 10 rebounds.