OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Men's Basketball team staved off a furious Wayland Baptist second half rally as the Evangels pulled away late with the 79-66 victory inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday night.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 79, Wayland Baptist 66
  • Mid-America Christian (11-3, 5-3 SAC)
  • Wayland Baptist (10-4, 4-4 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Clance Crosby – 17 Points, 7-8 FG, 3-5 FT, 11 Reb, 2 Blocks
• Corey Skillman – 16 Points, 6-12 FG, 4-9 3FG, 3 Reb, 3 Assists, 4 Steals
• Shannon Strickland – 13 Points, 6-11 FG, 5 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian opened the contest strong by scoring the first six points before eventually stretching the lead out to 12 on Clay Baldwin's right wing three off Zander Baker's drive and dish with 14 minutes to go to make it 18-6.
  • The Pioneers weren't able to knock the MACU lead down to single-digits until Rico Yarbrough converted an and-one bucket with 10:48 left to set the score to 20-11, but the Evangels swung back with seven-unanswered behind a Shannon Strickland trey and four points for Demerius Shakur off the bench, extending the edge to 27-11 with 9:15 remaining.
  • MACU struggled to get into the scoring column over the next five minutes as Corey Skillman's three-ball from the left side at the 7:52 mark was the only score during the stretch as the Pioneers rattled off seven-unanswered to answer. A Chuks Ejiofor offensive board and tip-in with 4:44 to go allowed WBU to close it to a 30-20 game.
  • A tough Strickland lay-in on the ensuing possession allowed MACU to string together an 11-4 surge as Corey Skillman's steal and fastbreak layup with 50 seconds left tied MACU's biggest lead 41-24.
  • WBU's Yarbrough canned a three on the following possession, but James Locke's strong take down the lane with 10 seconds left sent MACU into the half with the 43-27 advantage.
• Second Half
  • Both teams went back-and-forth through the first six minutes of the second stanza as Baker's free throw at the 14:48 mark made it 55-40, but Jamari Lawrence's three-ball from curling around the screen on the left side ignited a 13-0 run over the next three minutes as Ejifors foul shot with 11:35 remaining closed it to a 55-53 game.
  • After a quiet first half, Morris Williams came up huge by converting on a strong three-point play with 11:13 left, igniting a string of 11-straight for MACU as another Baker free throw with 7:20 to go extended the edge back to 66-53.
  • The Pioneers once again closed it back to single-digits by scoring seven of the next nine as another Lawrence trey with 4:11 to go closed it back to 68-60.
  • The Evangels' defense was downright dominant over the next three-and-a-half minutes, holding WBU scoreless during a 7-0 streak while capitalizing on another enormous and-one bucket by Williams and a Clance Crosby tip-in off the offensive board with 39 seconds left to extend the advantage to 75-60.
  • The Pioneers knocked down a pair of threes in the final 33 seconds, but it was too little, too late as Crosby threw down a dunk with seven seconds left to wrap-up the 79-66 final.

GAME NOTES

• Despite a tough night from the three-point line (7-for-28, 25 percent) and free throw line (16-of-24, 66.7 percent), Mid-America Christian put together a solid shooting performance inside the arc, finishing the game 28-for-60 (46.7 percent) from the floor.
• The Evangels held Wayland Baptist to a season-low 66 points, shooting just 23-of-59 (39 percent) from the field and only 7-for-25 (28 percent) from three-point range while also converting 13-of-20 (65 percent) from the charity stripe.
• Both teams evenly finished with 37 rebounds, but the Evangels won the turnover battle by forcing 15 WBU giveaways while committing only 11 of their own.
• Clance Crosby continued his strong play in the paint by notching another double-double, netting a team-high 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting to go with 3-for-5 from the foul line and finishing with 11 boards and a pair of blocked shots.
• Corey Skillman came up huge on both ends of the floor for the Evangels, tallying 16 points on 6-of-12 from the field, including 4-for-9 from downtown while also notching a season-high four steals to go with a team-high three assists and three rebounds.
• Shannon Strickland rounded out MACU's double-digit scorers with 13 points on 6-for-11 from the floor while pulling down five boards.
• While MACU's leading scorer in Morris Williams had a tough night from the field while finishing with nine points, he came up clutch when the Evangels needed a bucket the most with a pair of crucial and-one buckets to go along with six rebounds.
• Demerius Shakur was MACU's leading scorer off the bench with eight points, doing most of the damage from the free throw line by going 6-for-8 with four boards.
• With the victory, the Evangels have now won five-straight games against Wayland Baptist with the contest being MACU's first double-digit win over the Pioneers since coming away with a 73-58 win in Plainview on Jan. 9, 2020 during the squad's SAC Championship run.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian continues its home swing on Saturday when the Evangels play Oklahoma Panhandle State for a 4 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke.