OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Men's Basketball team suffered its first home loss of the season in heartbreaking fashion on Thursday night as Oklahoma Panhandle State's Amaree Brown got the steal and game-winning fastbreak dunk with 2.4 seconds left to hand the Evangels an 85-84 defeat inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Keeshawn Mason – 22 Points, 9-13 FG, 3-4 FT, 5 Reb, 2 Assists
• Josiah Fulcher – 21 Points, 6-13 FG, 8-8 FT, 5 Reb, 5 Assists, 3 Steals, 2 Blocks
• Juwan White – 12 Points, 4-11 FG, 3-3 FT, 6 Reb, 4 Assists
• Magok Manyang – 11 Points, 3-6 FG, 4-5 FT

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • It was a back-and-forth battle between both teams through the first five minutes as neither team was able to grab larger than a two-point advantage with Oklahoma Panhandle State (5-11, 3-9 SAC) grabbing the 10-9 advantage on Kyle Belgrave II's midrange jumper with 15:01 to go.
  • A Keeshawn Mason hoop-and-harm stemmed the tide for Mid-America Christian (10-4, 6-4 SAC) on the ensuing possession as the Evangels went on a 9-2 run over the next three minutes with Josiah Fulcher's foul shots with 12:35 remaining making it an 18-12 MACU lead.
  • OPSU scored 11 of the next 15 points to take back a 23-22 edge on Taki Chievous' triple with 8:23 to go before the Evangels swung back with 11-unanswered of their own as Juwan White tipped in his own fastbreak miss to extend the MACU lead to 35-23 with 5:20 left.
  • Following a Raul Nunez longball on the following possession, MACU seized its largest lead of the contest on a 10-3 run with Marque Wilkerson's skying alley-oop fastbreak tip-in with 2:13 remaining to set the score to 45-29.
  • Oklahoma Panhandle State surged its way back before the break by scoring eight-unanswered points to close out opening session as Nunez's buzzer-beater from the left corner off the inbound cut the Aggies deficit to 45-37.
• Second Half
  • The second stanza started out much like the first as the two teams traded blows through the four-and-a-half minutes before the Evangels extended its lead back to double-digits on White's three-point play with 15:29 left to set the score to 54-43.
  • The Aggies slowly worked their way back by scoring eight of the next 10 over the next three minutes with Amaree Brown burying a three-ball to cut it to 56-51.
  • MACU briefly stretched the edge back out to nine following a pair of Fulcher foul shots and a Quentin Woodson lay-in before OPSU went on another 8-2 surge to close to a one-possession game at 62-59 on Kensington Grant-Brown's three with 10:10 left.
  • After a sluggish offensive drought for MACU, Fulcher nailed a huge three-pointer from the left corner on Woodson's kick-out with 8:24 to go as the Evangels scored seven of the next nine to push the edge back out to 69-61 with 7:01 remaining.
  • The Evangels extended the edge to 76-66 on another three-point play for Mason with 4:09 to go before OPSU clawed its way back to make it a one-possession game on Belgrave II's free throws with 2:46 left to make it 76-73.
  • OPSU refused to led MACU pull away as a Brown's three-point play with 1:29 to go cut it to just a two-point game at 80-78 before White buried a huge right corner three at the 35 second mark to stretch the MACU lead back to five before PJ Daniels immediately followed it up with an and-one bucket with 26 seconds to go to cut it back to 83-80 before missing the free throw.
  • On the ensuing trip to the foul line, Mason knocked down one of two free throws to make it a two-possession game before Brown made an incredible three-point shot from the right wing with 16 seconds left, knocking the MACU edge down to 84-83.
  • OPSU implemented a risky defensive strategy on the ensuing inbound as the Aggies elected not to foul and instead tried to trap Fulcher trying to induce a foul. However, OPSU successfully picked the star guard's pocket at the top of the key as Brown went in for the fastbreak dunk with 2.4 seconds left to give the Aggies the 85-84 lead.
  • The Evangels did have one last chance at the buzzer as White was able to get off an open half-court heave, but it was just off to the side as the Aggies came away with the win.

GAME NOTES

• Despite the heartbreaking result, Mid-America Christian executed extremely well on the offensive end as the Evangels finished the contest by shooting 28-for-53 (52.8 percent) and while MACU was somewhat cold from three at 5-of-15 (33.3 percent), it was greatly improved from the free throw line by going 23-for-28 (82.1 percent).
• While Oklahoma Panhandle State just a slightly lower 49.1 percent (27-of-55), the three-point line played the biggest factor in the game as OPSU made a season-high 13 threes, going 13-of-28 (46.4 percent) to go with 18-of-27 (66.7 percent) from the foul stripe.
• Despite losing the ball at the most inopportune time, MACU did take very good care of the basketball as the Evangels committed their second-fewest turnovers (9) to 11 for the Aggies while MACU held an 18-13 edge in points off turnovers.
• For the second-straight game, rebounding was once again a factor in MACU's defeat as the Evangels were out-rebounded for just the third time this season with OPSU holding a 33-26 edge on the glass.
• Keeshawn Mason put together one of his best games in an Evangel uniform as he finished with a MACU career-high 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting while also going 3-for-4 from the line to go with five boards.
• Josiah Fulcher had another solid offensive game by closing out the contest with 21 points on 6-for-13 from the field and a perfect 8-of-8 from the charity stripe while posting five rebounds and a team-high five assists to go with three steals and two blocks on the defensive end.
• Juwan White turned in a 12-point performance while knocking down 4-for-11 from the floor and 3-of-3 from the line. White also finished a team-high six rebounds and dished out four assists with no giveaways.
• Magok Manyang rounded out MACU's double-digit scoring output with 11 points on 3-of-6 shooting to go with 4-for-5 from the line.
• The result marked just the second time and the first since 2019 that the Evangels suffered a home loss to the Aggies with the last coming in an 80-71 result on Jan. 26, 2019.
• It was also the first time MACU had suffered back-to-back losses this season.
• The 45 points scored by the Evangels in the first half were the most MACU had scored in a half this season.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will wrap-up the first half of Sooner Athletic Conference play with a tough home contest on Saturday as the Evangels host league-leader Wayland Baptist for a 4 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke.