POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – The MACU Men's Basketball team had to fend off a furious College of the Ozarks rally in the second half, but the Evangels put the game on ice from the free throw line in the final minute as MACU held on for the 78-73 victory inside Keeter Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 78, College of the Ozarks 73
  • Mid-America Christian (8-3, 3-3 SAC)
  • College of the Ozarks (3-7, 2-5 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Morris Williams – 25 Points, 8-14 FG, 2-4 3FG, 7-7 FT, 9 Reb, 2 Assists, 2 Steals
• James Locke – 18 Points, 6-8 FG, 5-7 3FG, 2 Reb
• Clay Baldwin – 12 Points, 2-6 FG, 2-3 3FG, 6-6 FT, 3 Reb
• Corey Skillman – 11 Points, 5-9 FG, 4 Reb, 2 Assists

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian got off to a scorching hot start, as Zander Baker's three-ball on MACU's opening possession ignited a 14-2 run where the Evangels went 4-for-5 from three-point range, capped off on Morris Williams' right side trey at the 15:23 mark.
  • College of the Ozarks snapped its spell by scoring the next three, but the Evangels countered by scoring six of the next eight as Able Houston flushed an alley-oop dunk before the defense forced a COFO turnover to bring out a timeout, making it a 20-7 MACU advantage with 11:17 to go.
  • The Evangels continued to stay hot from three-point range as James Locke and a pair of Clay Baldwin three-balls allowed MACU to extend the edge to 30-14, but the Bobcats started to find its offensive stride as a Themba Tshuma layup started a 7-0 COFO run with Jaiden Wilson's lay-in at the 5:26 mark closing it to single-digits at 30-21.
  • Both teams went blow-for-blow over the next three minutes before Williams helped spark an 8-0 run, featuring a sensational behind the back pass by Manuel Zapater to the junior forward for an and-one before Locke dropped another three in from the left side to set the score to 40-23 with 1:36 left.
  • COFO managed to score the only bucket in the final minute-and-a-half when Andrew Dalton just barely managed to skip a cross-court pass through the defense to Garrett Snyder for the left-side trey, making it a 40-26 game at the half.
• Second Half
  • Williams continued to stay red-hot to start the second stanza, scoring the first six points with his scoop-shot lay-in stretching the lead out to 46-26 with 18:08 left.
  • The Bobcats scored the next seven to close the gap to 13 before the Evangels finally snapped the spell on Clance Crosby's lay-in along the left baseline before Locke popped another right side three with 14:29 to go to push the MACU edge to 51-33 heading into the first media timeout.
  • COFO slowly chiseled away at the MACU advantage over the next eight minutes before Dalton scored the hoop and the harm with 6:14 left to once again make it a single-digit deficit at 62-53.
  • Once again, both teams went blow-for-blow over the next three minutes as MACU's last double-digit advantage came on Corey Skillman's scoop-in layup with 3:47 remaining to bring it to 68-57.
  • College of the Ozarks put together one last offensive burst over the next three minutes, rattling off an 11-4 run with Tshuma taking it to the rack for a lay-in to make it 72-68 with only 42 seconds left.
  • The Bobcats then tried to force MACU to close out the game from the free throw line, sending Zander Baker and Baldwin to the foul line at the 25 and 11 second marks as both buried their throws to keep it a six-point advantage.
  • With seven seconds to go, Dalton managed to drain a desperation three to make it a one-possession game, but Baldwin once again took care of business from the free throw line by knocking down both his tries with four seconds left to ultimately seal the 78-73 victory.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian put together an all-around great shooting performance, going 25-of-50 (50 percent) from the field, 11-for-23 (47.8 percent) from three-point range and converted on 17-of-19 (89.5 percent) of its free throw tries.
• Defensively, the Evangels held Ozarks to 24-for-58 (41.4 percent) shooting, including 7-of-26 (26.9 percent) from three while staving off a red-hot performance from the foul line with Bobcats going 18-for-20 (90 percent).
• MACU controlled the glass, out-rebounding the Bobcats by a 32-20 margin with a 6-5 edge on the offensive glass.
• One factor that kept COFO in the contest was its ability to score off turnovers as the Bobcats forced the Evangels to commit 15 giveaways to just nine for Ozarks, resulting in a 24-10 COFO margin in points off turnovers.
• Once again, junior forward Morris Williams paced the MACU offensive attack, pouring in 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting, going 2-for-4 from three and 7-of-7 from the stripe while just barely missing a double-double with nine boards, two assists, and two steals.
• James Locke and Clay Baldwin provided a massive spark off MACU's bench with Locke scoring a season-high 18 points on a blazing 6-of-8 shooting, including a season-best 5-for-7 from the three-point arc.
• Baldwin's free throw shooting played a pivotal role in the result, doing half of his damage from the line by netting 12 points on 2-for-3 from three and 6-of-6 from the line to go with three boards.
• Corey Skillman rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting to go along with four rebounds before fouling out with 1:35 remaining.
• The Evangels improved to 3-0 against College of the Ozarks since the Bobcats joined the Sooner Athletic Conference last year as well as 6-6 in the all-time series since first facing each other in 2012.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will wrap-up its 2025 slate inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Tuesday night as the Evangels prepare for Science & Arts in an 8 p.m. tip-off.