OKLAHOMA CITY – After going toe-to-toe with Oklahoma City in the first half, the MACU Men's Basketball team went stone cold from the field in the second half, going through a 10-minute scoring drought as the Stars pulled away with the 73-47 win inside Abe Lemons Arena on Thursday night.
 
SCORE

• Oklahoma City 73, Mid-America Christian 47
  • Mid-America Christian (13-6, 7-6 SAC)
  • Oklahoma City (13-6, 10-3 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Morris Williams – 14 Points, 5-10 FG, 2-4 3FG, 2-2 FT, 3 Reb, 2 Assists
• Clance Crosby – 8 Points, 4-7 FG, 5 Reb
• Corey Skillman – 8 Points, 3-11 FG, 2-4 3FG, 3 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • It was tough sledding for both teams offensively through the first three-and-a-half minutes as it was tied 4-4 before Clance Crosby slammed home a put-back dunk with 16:33 to go, jumpstarting a 7-2 MACU surge capped off on a Zander Baker three from the left wing to make it an 11-6 Evangels advantage with 14:42 to go.
  • On the ensuing possession, a tough Brian Alexander bucket in the low post ignited a 10-3 Stars surge as Jonas Carlisle's score at the 12:56 mark gave Oklahoma City the 16-14 edge.
  • Crosby's lay-in with 10:29 to go briefly tied it at 16-16, but the Evangels went ice cold from the field over the next five minutes as OCU strung together a 10-2 surge to grab its largest lead of the half on Alexander's lay-in with 7:16 left.
  • Clay Baldwin's lob pass into Manuel Zapater with five-and-a-half remaining finally snapped the MACU cold spell before Morris Williams drained a fastbreak three from the left wing at the 4:35 mark to close the gap to 26-23.
• Second Half
  • Mid-America Christian got off to a dreadfully cold start to the second half as the Evangels were held scoreless for the first 10:12 as the Stars rattled off a 22-0 run with Savaughn Smith's trey at the 10:35 mark giving OCU the 54-32 advantage.
  • With 9:48 to go, Corey Skillman finally snapped MACU's cold spell with a three from the right side, but OCU got two more quick buckets from JD Gross and Carlisle to give the Stars their largest lead to that point at 58-35.
  • The Evangels scored six of the next eight to knock the deficit to under 20 on Williams' jumper with 5:41 remaining, making it a 60-41 contest.
  • MACU was unable to gain any more ground on the Stars the rest of the way as Oklahoma City outscored the Evangels 13-6 the rest of the way to pull out the 73-47 result.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian finished with its worst shooting performance of the season, going 15-for-65 (23.1 percent) from the field and 5-of-20 (20 percent) from behind the arc. The lone bright spot offensively for MACU was that it shot a perfect 12-for-12 from the charity stripe. The last time the Evangels made all of their foul shots in a game came on Nov. 22, 2022 when they went 11-for-11 against Faulkner.
• Meanwhile, Oklahoma City shot a solid 29-of-61 (47.5 percent) from the floor, but the Evangels managed to hold the Stars to only 9-for-28 (32.1 percent) from downtown while also limiting the Stars from the stripe at 6-for-10 (60 percent).
• It was a relatively clean game for both teams in the turnover department as both sides committed only 11 giveaways, but the Stars were more opportunistic by holding a 16-5 advantage in points off turnovers.
• While the Stars maintained a 44-40 edge in the rebounding category, the Evangels were the better team on the offensive glass with 16 to 10 for the Stars, however, OCU still maintained the lead in second chance points at 19-13.
• The lone bright spots offensively for Mid-America Christian in the contest were Morris Williams and Clance Crosby. Williams led MACU with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting, going 2-for-4 from three and knocked down both his foul shots while Crosby netted his eight on 4-for-7 from the field with five boards.
• While the tandem of Williams and Crosby shot 9-for-17 (52.9 percent), it was tough sledding for the rest of the squad as everyone else combined as the rest of the team finished 6-of-48 (12.5 percent).
• With the defeat, MACU dropped both games in the season series against the Stars after OCU got an 84-66 win over the Evangels inside the Gaulke Activity Center their last time out.

UP NEXT

• With Mid-America Christian's scheduled game against Southwestern Christian on Saturday getting pushed back to Monday, Feb. 2 due to inclement weather, the Evangels won't return to action until they host John Brown on Thursday, Jan. 29 at 8 p.m. inside the Gaulke.