OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Men's Basketball team completely shut down one of the highest-octane offenses in the NAIA as the Evangels once again staved off a big second half rally to pull away for the 76-59 win over Science & Arts inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Tuesday night.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 76, Science & Arts 59
  • Mid-America Christian (9-3, 4-3 SAC)
  • Science & Arts (5-7, 1-6 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Morris Williams – 18 Points, 5-9 FG, 3-5 3FG, 5-6 FT, 6 Reb
• Shannon Strickland – 16 Points, 5-10 FG, 2-3 3FG, 4-4 FT, 3 Reb
• Corey Skillman – 12 Points, 3-8 FG, 2-4 3FG, 4-4 FT, 6 Reb
• James Locke – 10 Points, 3-8 FG, 2-6 3FG, 2-2 FT, 3 Reb
• Clance Crosby – 8 Points, 2-8 FG, 4-4 FT, 9 Reb, 3 Blocks

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian came out firing on all cylinders as the Evangels scored the first 11 points with Morris Williams draining a pair of threes to go along with a Shannon Strickland triple and a Corey Skillman layup to make it 11-0 with just over 17 minutes left, forcing USAO to call an early timeout.
  • The Evangels eventually extended their edge out to 16-3 on James Locke's trey from the left side with 13:36 to go before Science & Arts countered with a 7-2 run to close it down to 18-10 on Elijah Burney's long ball at the 11:25 mark.
  • After MACU scored the next six on a pair of Strickland midrange jumpers on back-to-back possessions and a pair of Clay Baldwin foul shots with just over nine minutes remaining, the Drovers once again swung back by scoring seven-unanswered with Burney burying another three-ball with 6:36 remaining to close the gap to 24-17.
  • While another Williams trey briefly extended the MACU lead to double-digits, USAO made one more small run to knock MACU's edge down to 27-21 on Bryce Cowns fastbreak dunk off Burney's steal at the 5:07 mark.
  • However, MACU went into break with a massive burst of momentum as Locke popped a three from the left side after a perfectly executed shot fake with 4:37 to go to ignite a dominant 18-4 run to close out the half. Williams capped off the streak with a pair of free throws with 28 seconds left followed before coming up with a defensive stop to send MACU into the break with a commanding 45-25 advantage.
• Second Half
  • Science & Arts set the tone to start, opening the second half with a 10-3 run to close it to 48-35 on Jamouri McCalister's three with 16:19 left, prompting MACU head coach Josh Gamblin to take the early timeout.
  • The Evangels put together a solid response, scoring six of the next seven as Baker's steal and belly-flop feed to Locke for the fastbreak lay-in stretched the edge back out to 54-36 with 14:49 remaining.
  • Over the next six minutes, the Drovers slowly but surely chiseled away at the MACU advantage before Mohand Ammad's strong take and lay-in with 8:22 on the clock closed it to 60-53.
  • MACU briefly put a stop to it when Clance Crosby tapped in his own miss and Strickland drained a pair of throws with 6:43 to go to push it back to double-digits, but the Drovers answered back with four of their own on another Ammad bucket and a Sam Faraday-Bensley midrange jumper to make it 64-57 with just over six minutes left.
  • Mid-America Christian's defense completely stopped Science & Arts the rest of the way as the Evangels held USAO to without a score over the five-and-a-half minute stretch. MACU did most of its damage from the free throw line down the stretch, going 10-for-12 from the stripe before Crosby tipped in his own miss with 28 seconds left for the Evangels' last field goal and only bucket during the 12-0 run to make it 76-57.
  • Ammad finally snapped USAO's 5:53 scoring stretch with a short left-side jumper with 15 seconds left on its final possession to wrap-up the 76-59 final.

GAME NOTES

• Tuesday night's contest provided a rare instance where Mid-America Christian shot better from three-point range than inside the arc. Overall, MACU went 10-for-21 (47.6 percent) from three-point range, but only 11-of-35 (31.4 percent) from two-point range to finish 21-for-56 (37.5 percent) overall from the field.
• The Evangels continued their superb free throw shooting, finishing the contest 24-of-27 (88.9 percent) from the charity stripe.
• Not only did MACU holds Science & Arts to its lowest scoring output of the season at 59 points, its previous low coming in a 78-70 home loss to Langston, but also held the Drovers to their worst shooting performance at 19-of-60 (31.7 percent) and second-worst three-point outing at 4-for-20 (20 percent). USAO entered the contest as the top scoring team in the SAC and 12^th-rated scoring offense in the entire NAIA.
• Coming in as the worst free throw shooting team in the SAC, the Drovers did have one of their best outings from the free throw line, posting their second-highest percentage after going 17-for-23 (73.9 percent).
• While the SAC's best rebounding team held a slim 42-39 edge over MACU on the glass, including 15-10 on the offensive glass, the Evangels won the turnover game by forcing 15 USAO turnovers while the Evangels committed just 10.
• Morris Williams continued his streak of being MACU's top scorer, finishing with 18 points on 5-of-9 shooting, going 3-for-5 from three-point range and 5-of-6 from the foul line to go with six rebounds.
• Coming off a tough road trip where Shannon Strickland scored only three points in the two games at John Brown and College of the Ozarks, the senior guard found his offensive stride again with 16 points on 5-for-10 from the field, including 2-of-3 from downtown and 4-for-4 from the stripe while adding three boards.
• Corey Skillman put together a solid game with 12 points on 3-of-8 from the floor, 2-for-4 from the arc and 4-of-4 from the line with six boards while James Locke added 10 points off the bench, all of which coming on 3-for-8 shooting, including 2-of-6 from three and a pair of throws.
• Clance Crosby just barely missed finishing with a double-double, netting eight points and nine rebounds while also being a big reason for MACU's defensive performance with a trio of blocked shot attempts.
• MACU's defense completely flustered the SAC's top scorer coming in in Mohand Ammad, holding the senior combo guard-forward to his second-lowest scoring output of the season at 12 points on 5-of-14 shooting while forcing him into three giveaways.
• With the victory, the Evangels have now won three-straight games against the Drovers while also pushing their conference record back above .500 at 4-3

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now head into the Christmas break before opening the new year with a non-conference home contest against Hesston on Jan. 3. Tip-off is slated for 1 p.m. inside the Gaulke.