GOODWELL, Okla. – The MACU Men's Basketball team took care of business in its second-to-last game of the regular season inside Anchor D Arena on Thursday night as the Evangels led by double-digits for most of the game before cruising to a 76-64 victory.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 76, Oklahoma Panhandle State 64
  • Mid-America Christian (19-8, 13-8 SAC)
  • Oklahoma Panhandle State (6-20, 4-17 SAC)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Corey Skillman – 18 Points, 5-10 FG, 7-9 FT, 4 Reb, 2 Steals
• Shannon Strickland – 13 Points, 5-7 FG, 3-3 3FG, 9 Reb
• James Locke – 11 Points, 4-4 FG, 3-3 3FG, 2 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • After Clance Crosby flushed home the opening bucket following the defender flop on MACU's opening possession, Shannon Strickland caught fire for Mid-America Christian as he scored the next eight Evangels points before Zander Baker got the steal at half court and lay-in with 16:09 to go, giving MACU the 12-3 advantage.
  • Both teams went blow-for-blow over the next two minutes, but a nice find by Manuel Zapater to Morris Williams for the left-wing three with 14:07 left gave MACU its first double-digit advantage at 18-8 going into the first media timeout.
  • The Evangels maintained their advantage over the next four minutes as James Locke popped a trey with 10:48 remaining to push it back to a 10-point advantage, but back-to-back Oklahoma Panhandle State buckets by Aaron Williams Jr. and Jacob Taitte to cut it to a 23-17 game at the 10-minute mark.
  • Both sides were even through the next three-and-a-half minutes before the Evangels extended their lead back to 11 at 32-21 on Crosby's lay-in and Skillman's trey from the right elbow with just over six minutes to go.
  • Neither team was able to muster a run over the remaining six minutes of the half as Clay Baldwin's foul shots with 37 seconds left sent MACU into the break with the 43-33 advantage.
• Second Half
  • The Mid-America Christian defense held OPSU scoreless through the first four-and-a-half minutes as the Evangels opened the second half by scoring the first six as Skillman's free throws at the 17:11 mark gave MACU its largest lead to that point at 49-33.
  • OPSU chiseled away at the Evangels' edge over the next few minutes as a Christian Campbell midrange jumper and a pair of Williams Jr. free throws cut it to a 12-point game before a sensational dish feed from Williams to Zapater for the MACU layup pushed the lead back out to 51-37 at the 14:42 mark going into the first media timeout.
  • While Zapater on the ensuing possession drained a pair of foul shots to stretch MACU's edge back out to 16, the Aggies scored six of the next eight on a three apiece from Braeden Ellison and Mike Carter to close the gap back to 55-43 with 11:55 remaining.
  • After Demerius Shakur and Taitte traded buckets to keep it a 12-point contest at the 11:09 mark, the Evangels defense clamped down by holding OPSU scoreless over a three-and-a-half-minute stretch while Baldwin scored the next seven MACU points, finishing off the run with an and-one bucket with 8:54 to go to stretch the edge to its largest of the game at 64-45.
  • Ellison and Strickland traded treys during the seven-minute mark before the Aggies held MACU to a 2:42 scoring drought, but only scoring five during the stretch to trim the lead down to 67-53 on Williams Jr.'s hoop-and-harm with 5:39 remaining.
  • The Evangels scored five of the next eight on a Locke three-ball and a Skillman scoop-in lay-up with just under 3:56 left to make it a 72-56 game.
  • Both teams struggled to find a field goal over the final four minutes as the only scoring away from the foul line was Ellison's bucket with 1:10 to go to cap off the 76-64 final.

GAME NOTES

• Overall, Mid-America Christian put together a decent shooting performance on the road, going 26-for-58 (44.8 percent) from the field and 8-of-21 (38.1 percent) from the three-point arc while canning 16-for-21 (76.2 percent) from the free throw line.
• The MACU defense completely clamped down on the Aggies, holding OPSU to 19-of-56 (33.9 percent) shooting, including 7-for-30 (23.3 percent) from downtown. The one aspect of the game that kept the Aggies in it was their free throw shooting as they converted 19-for-22 (86.4 percent) from the charity stripe.
• The Evangels held a slight 37-36 edge on the glass, but the Aggies were more opportunistic on their second chances, seizing a slight 10-9 edge on the offensive glass while outscoring MACU 15-6 in second chance points.
• MACU won the turnover battle by forcing 11 OPSU turnovers while committing its third-fewest of the season at eight, resulting in commanding 16-4 advantage in points off those takeaways.
• Corey Skillman continued his hot streak for the Evangels as he led the teams offensive efforts with a game-high 18 points on 5-of-10 shooting, going 7-for-9 from the foul stripe to go with four boards.
• While Shannon Strickland has been offensively quiet the last few weeks, the senior guard got back on-track in a big way, narrowly missing a double-double with 13 points on 5-for-7 from the floor, including a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point range to go with nine rebounds.
• James Locke was the only other Evangel to crack into double-figures, scoring his 11 points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting, including 3-for-3 from three-point range.
• Morris Williams and Manuel Zapater led the distribution efforts with three assists apiece.
• By getting the victory, MACU swept the season series over Oklahoma Panhandle State after getting a 78-74 win inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Jan. 10. The Evangels improved to 10-6 all-time against OPSU, including winning nine of the last 12 meetings since the 2019-20 campaign.
• With the win and a Texas Wesleyan loss at Langston, the Evangels moved to just a game back of the Rams for the No. 5 spot in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings with one last regular season game remaining.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will close out its 2025-26 regular season with a challenging road contest inside the Hutcherson Center on Saturday as the Evangels battle Wayland Baptist for a 4 p.m. tip-off.