WAXAHACHIE, Texas – The MACU Men's Basketball team was unable to play spoiler on No. 6 Nelson's Senior Night inside the Sheaffer Center on Thursday night as the Evangels fell 95-77.
 
SCORE

• Nelson 95, Mid-America Christian 77
  • Mid-America Christian (17-8, 11-8 SAC)
  • Nelson (21-4, 16-3 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Morris Williams – 23 Points, 9-16 FG, 4-6 3FG, 5 Reb, 3 Steals
• Clay Baldwin – 18 Points, 4-11 FG, 3-6 3FG, 7-10 FT, 6 Assists
• Corey Skillman – 13 Points, 3-10 FG, 2-6 3FG, 5-6 FT, 2 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Nelson opened the contest by scoring the first four points before the Evangels answered back by scoring four of the next six as Morris Williams flushed dunk off Corey Skillman's lob with 16:11 to go to cut the deficit to 6-4.
  • JJ Boling caught fire from behind the arc for the Lions, burying a pair of treys to start a 13-5 run to stretch it to a 19-9 lead on Jesse Iweze's foul shots with 13:01 to go.
  • After Shannon Strickland and Trelin Green traded buckets, the Evangels closed it to a five-point game at 21-16 on Able Houston's long jumper from the top of the key and Demerius Shakur's right corner three with 10:10 remaining.
  • The Lions defense settled in over the next four minutes, rattling off a 12-2 streak with Micah Clark's fastbreak dunk stretching the Nelson advantage back to 33-18 at the 6:28 mark.
  • Both teams went blow-for-blow before Skillman started a brief 6-1 run with a three and a Williams trey at the 2:53 mark to cut it down to a 10-point game at 41-31 with 2:53 to go.
  • The Lions and Evangels each traded a pair of three-point plays over the next minute-and-a-half as Clay Baldwin buried a pair of long balls to close it to 47-37, but the Lions scored five of the final eight the rest of the way to take a 52-40 lead into the halftime break.
• Second Half
  • Even though MACU scored four of the first six coming out of the break with Williams picking up right where he left off with a lay-in at the 17:20 mark making it 54-44, the Lions, swung back with a 9-3 run with Clark's three and Iweze's dunk two possessions later making it a 63-47 advantage with just over 15 minutes to go.
  • While Baldwin's three and Williams' fastbreak runner once again managed to close the gap to 63-53 with 13:37 left, the Lions contained the MACU rally over the next few minutes as another Boling long ball with just under 12 minutes remaining ignited a 15-4 Lions surge over the next five minutes to stretch their lead to 83-61 with 7:47 to go.
  • Even though Able Houston flushed a dunk on the ensuing possession to snap MACU's four-minute long field goal-less streak, Nelson continued to pull away, building its edge out to 91-64 on Noah Jonker's layup to wrap-up an 8-1 surge.
  • MACU's defense settled in over the last six minutes, holding the Lions to only four points, but the deficit was too great to overcome as the Evangels could only muster 13 points over the same stretch to ultimately wrap the contest up at 95-77.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian struggled from inside the arc, finishing the contest by shooting 24-for-62 (38.7 percent) overall from the field, but did find success from behind the arc, converting on 12-of-28 (42.9 percent) of its three-pointers. The Evangels also left some points at the free throw line in the second half, going 13-for-24 from the stripe in the second half to finish 17-of-28 (60.7 percent).
• While Nelson rode some red-hot shooting in the first half, the Lions cooled down in the second half to finish 30-for-64 (46.9 percent) from the floor, going 12-of-32 (37.5 percent) from three-point range. Nelson capitalized on its opportunities from the foul line, converting on 23-for-29 (79.3 percent).
• The Lions ability to dominate the glass allowed them to seize control, out-rebounding the Evangels 44-28, including an 11-7 edge on the offensive glass. Even though both teams were relatively even in the turnover department with MACU committing only one more giveaway at 13-12, Nelson was much more opportunistic, owning a 20-7 lead in points off takeaways.
• Morris Williams continued to be a strong offensive presence for the Evangels, finishing with a team-high 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting, going 4-for-6 from three-point range to go with five rebounds and a team-best three steals as well.
• Clay Baldwin provided a massive spark off MACU's bench, finishing with his second-highest point total of the year with 18 on 4-of-11 shooting, going 3-for-6 from downtown and 7-of-10 from the line while dishing out a team-high six assists.
• Corey Skillman was the only other Evangel to reach double-figures, posting 13 points on 3-of-10 from the field, including 2-for-6 from range, and 5-of-6 from the stripe.
• Much like the first meeting back in January, the Evangels struggled to find an answer to stop the SAC's leading scorer in Micah Clark, who poured in 31 points on 10-of-17 from the field, including 5-for-8 from three, and 6-of-8 from the stripe to go with six boards and four assists on Nelson's Senior Night.
• With the defeat, Nelson swept the season series after getting an 81-67 win inside the Gaulke back on Jan. 15.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will return home on Saturday for its very own Senior Day as the Evangels host Texas Wesleyan for a 4 p.m. tip-off inside the Gaulke. The Senior Day ceremony will take place following the conclusion of the women's game that will tip-off at 2 p.m.