OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Men's Basketball team continued to stay hot to wrap-up its four-game home stand as the Evangels romped Randall by a score of 89-53 inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday night.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 89, Randall 53
  • Mid-America Christian (4-0)
  • Randall (0-4)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Morris Williams – 19 Points, 6-10 FG, 2-3 3FG, 5-7 FT, 5 Reb, 3 Steals
• Shannon Strickland – 17 Points, 6-9 FG, 2-5 3FG, 3-4 FT, 3 Reb, 2 Assists, 2 Steals
• Corey Skillman – 10 Points, 4-9 FG, 2-7 3FG, 4 Assists, 2 Reb, 2 Steals
• Able Houston – 9 Points, 2-3 FG, 3-3 FT, 6 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • After Randall jumped out to an early 4-2 lead through the first two minutes, Mid-America Christian found its stride, going on a massive 21-3 run over the next eight minutes. Morris Williams started the streak with a fastbreak three from the right wing before Demarius Shakur capped it with a pair of free throws with 10:38 left to make it a 24-7 MACU lead.
  • A Carson Thomas three at the 9:46 mark snapped the Saints' cold spell as RU ran off to a 13-5 surge to close the gap to single digits at 29-20 on Levi Steele's layup with 4:41 remaining.
  • The Evangels scored the next four from the foul line on a pair of throws by Williams and Shannon Strickland before Randall scored the next five to close its gap to its smallest since early in the first half at 33-25 with 3:15 to following another Steele bucket.
  • Mid-America Christian closed out the opening half on a high note as Corey Skillman splashed a three-point bomb from the right side to ignite a 10-unanswered MACU run that was finished off on James Locke's fastbreak lay-in off the Skillman dish to make it 43-25.
  • Randall did get one last score before the end of the half as Steele found Jaden Palmer-Perkins for a scoop-shot lay-in while passing out of the trap to cut it to a 43-27 game heading into the break.
• Second Half
  • While Randall started out as the better team through the first three minutes, outscoring MACU 7-5, Strickland emphatic one-handed dunk with 16:10 to go fired up the Evangels offense as MACU followed it up with downright dominant 22-2 surge with Locke knocking down the fastbreak left side three with 10:41 on the clock, setting the score to 70-36.
  • The Evangels went cold over the next three minutes as the Saints scored seven of the next nine to knock it down to a 72-43 game on a Cameron Hainrihar trey, but just like earlier in the half, Strickland sparked another big run. By splashing a three from the top of the key, the Evangel streaked away behind a 12-1 surge capped off on Luke Beddow's and-one tip-in with 2:22 left to make it MACU's largest lead at 84-44.
  • The Saints managed to outscore MACU's reserves in the final minutes 9-5 with Steele getting the last score on a layup with 27 seconds left to wrap-up the 89-53 final.

GAME NOTES

• For the fourth-straight game to start the season, Mid-America Christian shot 50-percent or better from the field, going 29-for-57 (50.9 percent) despite knocking down just 9-of-26 (34.6 percent) from three-point range. MACU also once again shot well as a team from the free throw line, shooting above 75-percent as a team for the fourth consecutive contest as well by going 22-for-29 (75.9 percent).
• The Evangels defense smothered Randall, holding the Saints to only 19-of-51 (37.3 percent) after shooting 52.8 percent in the first half to go along with 6-for-23 (26.1 percent) from downtown and 9-of-15 (60 percent) from the charity stripe.
• MACU controlled the glass, outrebounding the Saints 40-25 with an 11-6 edge on the offensive glass to result in a 15-4 difference in second chance points.
• The biggest difference between the two sides came in the turnover battle as MACU forced 21 Randall turnovers while committing only 11 to cause a 31-11 point differential in points off takeaways.
• Overall, 12 different Evangels found themselves in the scoring column with only three breaking into double-figures on the well-balanced night, led once again by junior forward Morris Williams with 19 points on an efficient 6-for-10 shooting, going 2-of-3 from three and 5-for-7 from the line with five rebounds and three steals.
• Coming off a career-best night against Arlington Baptist, Shannon Strickland stayed hot for MACU with 17 points on a 6-for-9 clip, going 2-of-5 from three and 3-for-4 at the stripe with three boards, two assists, and a pair of thefts.
• Corey Skillman led MACU's bench efforts with 10 points on 4-of-9 from the field while also leading the distribution efforts with four assists and no turnovers to go with two boards and two steals.
• Able Houston led the balanced rebounding efforts with six boards to go with nine points on 2-of-3 shooting and 5-for-6 from the line.
• The contest allowed MACU to go deep to its bench as no player for the Evangels played more than 25 minutes while all 15 of the Evangels' available players made it into the game.
• By getting the victory, MACU improved to 20-4 all-time against Randall and have now won 11-straight games in the series since 2018.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now get an extended 11-day break before its next game as the Evangels prepare to head up to Hesston, Kan. on Nov. 17 to take on Hesston for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off inside the Yost Center.