OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Men's Basketball team faced a stiff test against a desperate John Brown squad on Thursday night inside the Gaulke, but the Evangels utilized a late 12-1 run in the second half to pull away with the 72-58 victory.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 72, John Brown 58
  • Mid-America Christian (14-6, 8-6SAC)
  • John Brown (9-11, 6-8 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Morris Williams – 18 Points, 7-14 FG, 4-7 3FG
• Clance Crosby – 15 Points, 5-5 FG, 5-6 FT, 7 Reb, 2 Steals, 1 Block
• Shannon Strickland – 12 Points, 4-10 FG, 2-4 3FG, 4 Assists, 3 Reb, 2 Steals
• Corey Skillman – 11 Points, 5-7 FG, 6 Reb, 3 Assists

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • John Brown opened the contest by scoring four of the first six points through the first two minutes before buckets by Clance Crosby, Manuel Zapater, and Shannon Strickland allowed the Evangels to take an 8-4 lead with 16:32 left.
  • A pair of JBU long balls from Josh Stewart and Carter Carbonell allowed the Golden Eagles to seize a 10-8 edge at the 14:22 mark, but after a couple of scoreless minutes, MACU powered forward after Morris Williams canned a three from the right side with 12:47 to go to give the Evangels the 11-10 edge.
  • After a couple more scoreless minutes for both sides, MACU's run continued on Crosby's lay-in with 9:50 remaining with the Evangels utilizing the 13-0 streak. James Locke closed out the surge by splashing a three from the left side with 8:13 left to make it a 21-10 game.
  • The Evangels maintained a double-digit lead for the next three minutes before the Golden Eagles scored seven of the next eight, closing it to 27-23 with 2:25 on the clock.
  • Williams and Donovan Lovelace traded a pair of threes on back-to-back possessions, but Crosby's powerful layup at the 1:05 mark proved to be the final score of the stanza, sending MACU into the break with the 32-26 advantage.
• Second Half
  • While Strickland buried a trey to stretch the MACU edge to 35-28 less than a minute into the second half, John Brown quickly closed the gap to one after rattling off an 8-2 run as Marko Malekinusic's three-ball made it a 37-36 contest with 17:15 left.
  • The Golden Eagles kept it to within a one-score game over the next three minutes before Corey Skillman curled around a Manuel Zapater screen and drained a left-side three with 12:31 to go stretched the edge to 47-43.
  • The two sides continued to trade blows over the ensuing five minutes, but the Evangels still managed to push the lead out to two scores at 55-50 at the 7:12 mark due in-large part to a pair of Locke long balls.
  • The last time JBU clawed it to one possession was Malekinusic's layup with 6:40 left, but Zander Baker's in-bound lob to Williams for an impressive flush on the following possession ignited a massive 12-1 streak over a five-minute stretch to build MACU's advantage out to 67-53 with 1:24 to go on Strickland's foul shots.
  • Williams came up with five big points in the final minute to prevent John Brown from making any sort of run as the Evangels closed out the 72-58 victory.

GAME NOTES

• Despite the low-scoring result, the Mid-America Christian offense was highly efficient, shooting 27-for-54 (50 percent) from the field and its second-best three-point clip of the season at 11-of-21 (52.4 percent), just the second time this year MACU shot better than 50 percent from range.
• In a contest that didn't see many attempts from the free throw line, the Evangels were the slightly better side from the stripe, going 7-for-8 (87.5 percent) while John Brown converted 5-of-7 (71.4 percent).
• The MACU defense held the Golden Eagles to 21-of-52 (40.4 percent) from the field and 11-for-31 (35.5 percent) from three-point range while the 58 points scored by JBU marked the second-fewest netted this season for the traveling side.
• MACU held a slight 31-26 edge on the glass with both teams scratching seven offensive boards. The Evangels also won the turnover battle by forcing 15 JBU giveaways to only 11 of their own, resulting in a 23-14 differential in points off takeaways.
• Morris Williams led a balanced offensive effort for MACU, finishing with a game-high 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting, going 4-for-7 from three-point range.
• Clance Crosby put together a stellar game in the paint for the Evangels, tallying 15 points on a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe, leading MACU on the glass as well with seven rebounds to go along with two steals and one block on the defensive side.
• Shannon Strickland posted a 12-point game on 4-of-10 shooting, going 2-for-4 from three and converting on MACU's two other free throw attempts while also leading the squad in assists with four dimes, three boards, and a pair of thefts.
• Corey Skillman rounded out MACU's double-digit scorers with 11 points, finishing 5-for-7 from the field to go with six rebounds and three assists while James Locke provided a spark off the bench with nine points on 3-of-5 from downtown.
• By getting the win, MACU split the season series with the Golden Eagles after JBU came away with an 82-68 victory inside Bill George Arena back on Dec. 11, 2025.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will look to keep things rolling in its game against College of the Ozarks as the Saturday matinee is slated for a 4 p.m. start inside the Gaulke.