OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Men's Basketball team picked up its best win of the season on the biggest stage it has played on this season as the Evangels defeated No. 5 Langston 69-65 on Saturday afternoon inside the Paycom Center, the home of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 69, Langston 65
  • Mid-America Christian (7-2, 2-2 SAC)
  • Langston (8-2, 4-2 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Morris Williams – 22 Points, 6-10 FG, 5-6 3 FG, 5-5 FT, 4 Reb
• Shannon Strickland – 14 Points, 5-9 FG, 3-3 3FG, 1-2 FT, 2 Reb
• Zander Baker – 12 Points, 1-3 FG, 10-10 FT, 7 Reb
• Clance Crosby – 11 Points, 4-4 FG, 3-5 FT

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • It was a defensive grind through the first three-and-a-half minutes as Shannon Strickland provided the only scoring with a step-back three from the left wing at the 17:56 to give MACU the early 3-0 advantage.
  • Langston briefly drew it even at 4-4 on Jaden Williams' offensive board and putback before Clance Crosby came back on the other end with a drive and reverse layup with 15:28 left.
  • The Lions once again tied it at 6-6 with just over 14 minutes to go, but the Evangels once again surged back in-front with Clance Crosby flushing a fastbreak dunk to go with a foul shot and Shannon Strickland burying a long jumper to make it a 11-8 game with 9:58 remaining.
  • While Strickland added a left corner three to build the Evangels' edge to 14-10 at the 8:38 mark, the Lions once again battled back to tie it Omar Henry's lay-in with just under seven-and-a-half left.
  • Just before the media timeout, Corey Skillman put the Evangels back in-front with a strong take down the right lane for a running mid-range floater with 5:50 left as MACU put together a 5-0 run capped off on a pair of Morris Williams foul shots to extend the edge to 19-14 with 4:14 to go.
  • The Evangels went through a cold spell over the next three minutes as Langston went on a six-unanswered run to take a brief 20-19 advantage on Tajahri Cave's foul shot with 1:27 on the clock.
  • Demerius Shakur finally snapped the scoring spell with a pair of throws at the 1:12 mark to give MACU the lead back at 21-20, but Langston seized the 24-21 lead going into the half on Antonio Lewis' buzzer-beater from the top of the key following Treshawn Cody's game-tying foul shot with 48 seconds left to make it 24-21.
• Second Half
  • Mid-America Christian opened the second half with a 7-0 surge as Corey Skillman's mid-range floater in the paint extended the MACU edge to 27-24 at the 18:43 mark.
  • Following a pair of Cody free throws, both teams traded threes over the next few minutes as MACU seized a six-point cushion on Strickland's triple to make it 35-29 with 16:30 left.
  • Langston scored five of the next seven to briefly cut it to a three-point point game on Robert Alexander's hoop-and-harm, but Williams converted on his and-one attempt on the ensuing possession to fire off another 5-0 run with Clay Baldwin knocking down a pair of throws with 14:21 left to stretch the advantage to 42-34.
  • The Lions put together a strong run of their own to respond, scoring the next six to close to a two-point game at 42-40 on Orlando Thomas' bucket with 12:33 remaining before Skillman knocked down another mid-range jumper with 11:24 to go to end the run.
  • Langston's defense held the Evangels to without a score over the next few minutes, briefly taking a two-point lead before Crosby emphatically snapped the run with a dunk with the foul with 8:57 left, putting MACU back in the lead at 47-46.
  • The Evangels utilized that and-one to spark a 10-3 run with Williams draining a pair of threes to stretch the advantage out to 55-49 with 7:09 to go.
  • After Antonio Dorado knocked down a pair of free throws at the 6:22 mark, MACU's defense clamped down, holding the Lions scoreless over the next four minutes while Williams knocked down two more massive threes to stretch the MACU advantage to 61-52 with 3:20 remaining.
  • With 2:22 on the clock, Langston finally snapped it spell with a pair of Cave free throws before Baker made a heads up play by gathering his own missed three and dropped in an open layup to make it 63-54 once again.
  • MACU took advantage of its opportunities from the free throw line, going 6-for-6 over the final 34 seconds as Langston wasn't able to trim its deficit to less than five until an and-one bucket with 0.8 seconds left to wrap-up the 69-65 victory.

GAME NOTES

• Facing one of the best defenses in the NAIA, Mid-America Christian put together an outstanding shooting performance, finishing the contest 19-for-38 (50 percent) while going a blistering 8-of-15 (53.3 percent) from three-point range while also connecting on 23-for-26 (88.5 percent) from the free throw line. MACU was especially great in the second half, putting up a 13-of-22 (59.1 percent) from the floor, 6-for-10 (60 percent) from three and a perfect 16-of-6 from the charity stripe.
• On the defensive front, MACU held Langston to just 21-of-57 (36.8 percent) from the field and 6-for-18 (33.3 percent) from three-point range while the Lions converted on only 17-of-27 (63 percent of its foul shots.
• Langston overall controlled the floor game, out-rebounding MACU by a 33-27 margin, including a 17-3 edge on the offensive glass. However, the MACU defense was able to buckle down and hold LU to only eight second chance points while the Evangels scored seven on their three offensive boards.
• The Lions also controlled the turnover battle, committing only nine turnovers to MACU's 14. However, MACU once again managed to contain the Lions to only seven points off takeaways while finishing with eight of their own.
• Morris Williams led the charge for MACU, scoring a team-high 22 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including a blazing 5-for-6 from three-point range and 5-of-5 from the stripe to go along with four boards.
• Shannon Strickland also put together a solid offensive performance, netting 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including 3-for-3 from downtown.
• Zander Baker made his mark in MACU's record book as the redshirt sophomore guard became the seventh Evangel in the NAIA Era (2007-present) to be perfect from the free throw line on 10 or more attempts, finishing 10-for-10 and 1-for-3 from the field to finish with 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
• Clance Crosby rounded out MACU's double-digit scorers by tallying 11 points on a perfect 4-for-4 from the floor and 3-of-6 from the foul line to go with four rebounds.
• The Evangels handed the fifth-ranked Lions their first Sooner Athletic Conference loss of the season as well as also picking up their second win over LU since last year after getting an 88-67 win over the Lions inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Jan. 20.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will continue its three-game road swing on Thursday as the Evangels slide over to Siloam Springs for an 8 p.m. tip against John Brown inside Bill George Arena.