PLAINVIEW, Texas – Senior guard Juwan White made one of the most important shots of the season for the MACU Men's Basketball team on Monday night at Wayland Baptist as his buzzer-beating step-back three propelled the Evangels to a 69-68 victory inside the Hutcherson Center.

With the victory, Mid-America Christian has secured the No. 3 seed and will host a SAC Quarterfinal game on Thursday night at 8 p.m. as the Evangels will take on No. 6 seed Texas Wesleyan inside the Gaulke Activity Center.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Juwan White – 17 Points, 5-7 FG, 2-4 3FG, 5-6 FT, 5 Reb, 2 Assists, 2 Steals
• Keeshawn Mason – 17 Points, 8-11 FG, 2 Assists
• Josiah Fulcher – 11 Points, 4-12 FG, 2-2 FT, 8 Reb, 6 Assists
• Tarrence Gaines – 10 Points, 3-7 FG, 2-6 3FG, 2-2 FT, 5 Reb, 5 Assists, 4 Blocks

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Wayland Baptist (16-11, 16-7 SAC) held the early momentum as the Pioneers captured a 6-2 advantage on Quenton Coleman's three-ball with 17:28 remaining.
  • After trading the next two buckets, Mid-America Christian (20-7, 16-7 SAC) went on a huge sustained run as Juwan White's strong take and lay-in at the 15:23 mark ignited a 12-unanswered run by the Evangels capped off on Quentin Woodson's left-hand lay-in off a nice Keeshawn Mason dish gave MACU its largest lead of the half at 16-8 with 12:30 to go.
  • The Pioneers put together a massive run of their own following Kabine Kaba's bucket with 11:41 left as WBU went on a 12-1 surge capped off on an Alex Rojas trey with 8:34 to give Wayland the 21-17 advantage.
  • Following Josiah Fulcher's pull-up midrange jumper with just over eight minutes left, the Evangels swung back in-front off an 8-1 run finished off on Mason's open lay-in following some great ball movement from White to set the MACU edge to 25-22 at the 4:58 mark.
  • After a Dylan McDougal and-one bucket with 4:45 left, the two teams went blow-for-blow over the next three minutes as the lead changed hands three times before being tied on a pair of Quentin Woodson foul shots with 1:49 left.
  • However, Wayland Baptist went into the locker room with the momentum as a Coleman pull-up three at the 1:24 mark and a Kaba three-point play with 28 seconds to go sent the Pioneers into the locker room with the 36-32 advantage.
• Second Half
  • Wayland Baptist came out firing on all cylinders from three-point range out of the break as WBU open with a 12-2 run on four trios, including three from Nico Noumeros before Joshua Tucker's triple with 16:38 remaining gave the Pioneers their largest lead of the game.
  • MACU's defense settled in over the next six minutes as the Evangels held the Pioneers to just a single field goal in a 13-4 run with threes by Tarrence Gaines, Zander Baker and Josiah Fulcher setting up Woodson's strong finish in the left block to cut the deficit down to 52-47 with 10:15 left.
  • Even though Jaxon Recer knocked down a trey to briefly push the Pioneers lead back to eight with just over 10 minutes to go, MACU continued to work their way back over the next five as the Evangels scored 10 of the next 14 with Fulcher draining a pair of free throws at the 5:34 mark to trim it to a single-possession game at 59-57.
  • After WBU scored the next four on a two Dylan McDougal free throws and a Coleman jumper, the Evangels once again knocked it back to two on a pair of strong White takes to the basket as his two layups knocked it back to 63-61 with 3:40 on the clock.
  • The Pioneers threatened to put the game away when McDougal knocked down a crucial three to extend the WBU advantage to 68-61 with 2:22 left, but there was no quit in the Evangels as White's foul shots set up Gaines by banking in a three from the top of key with 1:20 to go, setting the score to 68-66.
  • In the final minute, but teams came up with a pair of huge defensive stops and after Fulcher missed a three with 17 seconds left, the Pioneers had the opportunity to stretch the lead to three or four after McDougal was fouled with 12 seconds left.
  • The Evangels got a second chance when McDougal missed the front end of the one-and-one and the ball was deflected out of bounds to MACU with eight seconds to go.
  • With time winding down, White took the game into his own hands when he drove down the right baseline and shook off his defender with the dribble and the step back, draining the wide open three with two seconds left. The Pioneers did throw up a two-thirds court heave at the buzzer that was short, giving MACU the 69-68 victory.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian put together its best road shooting performance of the season, finishing the contest 25-for-47 (53.2 percent) from the field despite only going 6-for-20 (30 percent) from three-point range while knocking down 13-of-18 (72.2 percent) from the charity stripe.
• On the defensive end, the Evangels held Wayland Baptist to only 22-for-66 (33.3 percent) shooting, doing most of its damage from three at 13-of-38 (34.2 percent) and went 11-for-15 (73.3 percent) from the stripe.
• One of the big reasons why the Pioneers were able to hold the lead for a majority of the game was due to the Pioneers forcing 16 Evangels turnovers while committing only eight, allowing WBU to hold a 16-6 edge in points off turnovers.
• While MACU was able to control the glass with a 41-34 rebounding margin, the Pioneers were able to get more second chances than the Evangels with a 15-8 lead in offensive boards, resulting in an 11-5 lead in second chance scoring.
• Juwan White and Keeshawn Mason led MACU's offensive efforts for most of the night as both players finished with 17 points. White shot a highly efficient 5-for-7, including 2-of-4 from three and 5-for-6 from the line to go with five rebounds, a pair of assists and two steals. Meanwhile, Mason was nearly unstoppable in the paint, finishing 8-for-11 from the field to go with two assists.
• Josiah Fulcher put together a sensational all-around game, turning in 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting, but led the Evangels on the glass with eight rebounds and dished out a career-high six assists while committing just one turnover.
• Tarrence Gaines came up big for MACU late, tallying 10 points on 3-of-7 from the field, going 2-for-6 from three and 2-for-2 from the stripe while also putting together an excellent floor game with five boards, five assists and a career-best four blocked shots.
• By getting the win, Mid-America Christian swept the series from Wayland Baptist after the Evangels came away with a 71-67 win inside the Gaulke Activity Center back on Jan. 11.
• The result allowed the Evangels to finish in a tie for second in the SAC standings with Langston with both teams holding a 17-7 league record.