OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Men's Basketball team took care of business in its first game back from the holiday break as the Evangels cruised to an 86-50 win over Hesston in its final non-conference game inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Saturday afternoon.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 86, Hesston 50
  • Mid-America Christian (10-3)
  • Hesston (0-19)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Morris Williams – 19 Points, 8-9 FG, 3-4 3FG, 4 Reb, 2 Steals
• James Locke – 13 Points, 4-7 FG, 3-6 3FG, 2-2 FT, 5 Reb
• Clance Crosby – 12 Points, 4-4 FG, 4-6 FT, 10 Reb
• Shannon Strickland – 6 Points, 2-3 3FG, 9 Reb, 7 Assists

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • After trading the first two points of the contest, Shannon Strickland buried a deep left-wing three just over a minute into the contest to ignite a 9-0 Mid-America Christian run capped off on Corey Skillman's and-one bucket with 16:32 left to make it a 11-2 MACU lead.
  • Brennon Dodge scored Hesston's first field goal of the game at the 16:19 mark before the Evangels clamped down on the defensive end, holding the Larks scoreless over the next four-and-a-half minutes while stringing together another 12-straight with Demerius Shakur's strong take to the basket extending the Evangels' edge to 23-4 with 12 minutes to go.
  • Following Trent Thompson's tip-in bucket with 11:46 remaining, MACU caught fire from behind the arc over the next five minutes as James Locke connected on three of the team's four treys during a 12-3 surge, stretching the advantage to 35-9 with 6:39 left.
  • Henry Snyder knocked down Hesston's only three-point bucket of the first half on the ensuing possession, but a monstrous Morris Williams alley-oop flush ignited an 11-4 MACU streak as Zander Baker buried a deep three at the 1:47 mark to cap the scoring in the first half at 46-16.
  • The Evangels went cold the rest of the way as Hesston scored four in the final 1:12 to cut the MACU advantage down to 46-20 going into the break.
• Second Half
  • Even though the Larks scored four of the first six points to start the second stanza, Mid-America Christian pieced together a massive response by scoring 13 of the next 14 points as Skillman tracked down Strickland's deflected bounced pass and slammed it down the open lane, making it a 61-25 MACU edge with 15:20 to go.
  • Over the next four minutes, Hesston rattled off an 8-2 run to trim MACU's advantage down to 30 at 63-33 with 11:19 left on a pair of Antonio Odum foul shots.
  • MACU did most of its damage from the foul line over the next minute, going 6-for-6 from the stripe with Locke, Shakur, and Clay Baldwin each knocking down a pair, but a Dodge layup and a Rob Gambill three-pointer brought it back to below a 30-point lead at 69-42 with 8:45 remaining.
  • After trading a pair of buckets, MACU tallied 13 of the next 17 with Jabez Williamson and Ronnie Lopez coming off the bench to combine going 3-for-4 from the line to give the Evangels their largest lead of the game at 84-48 with 1:53 left.
  • Brandon Hardison capped off the scoring for MACU with a midrange jumper following a Brody Smith layup to finalize the 86-50 result.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian was solid on the offensive end, shooting 29-for-60 (48.3 percent) while knocking down a blazing 11-of-26 (42.3 percent) from the three-point arc while continuing to shoot a highly-efficient 17-for-20 (85.0 percent) from the free throw line.
• MACU's defense completely clamped down on Hesston's offensive attack, holding the Larks to 16-of-60 (26.7 percent) from the field, including a season-worst 3-for-30 (10 percent) from the three-point arc while matching the team's lowest scoring output of the year.
• The Evangels downright dominated the glass, out-rebounding the Larks 50-28, including a 13-8 edge on the offensive glass to result in a 22-7 differential in second chance points.
• Morris Williams led four Evangels into double-figures with 19 points on a highly-efficient 8-for-9 shooting, going 3-of-4 from behind the arc to go with four boards and a pair of steals.
• James Locke provided the biggest spark off the MACU bench, scoring 13 points while shooting 4-for-7, including 3-of-6 from range and 2-for-2 from the line while pulling down five rebounds.
• Clance Crosby recorded a double-double after just narrowly missing one in his last outing against the Drovers on Dec. 16, finishing with 12 points on 4-of-4 from the field and 4-for-6 from the foul line with 10 rebounds.
• While MACU's second-best scorer in Shannon Strickland was held to only six points, the redshirt senior guard provided a downright excellent floor game with nine rebounds and a game-high seven assists while not committing a single turnover.
• The contest allowed MACU to go deep to its bench as 16 players competed in the contest while 13 ended up in the scoring column.
• The game was a completely polar opposite type of contest from the last time MACU faced Hesston in the two teams' first ever meeting at Hesston on Nov. 17. In that game, the Larks boasted one of their best three-point shooting games of the season while MACU had to rally from a seven-point deficit in the final two minutes to force overtime before outscoring HC 9-3 in the overtime period, escaping with the 87-81 win.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will return to Sooner Athletic Conference play on Thursday as the Evangels now prepare to host Wayland Baptist for an 8 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke Activity Center.