OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Men's Basketball team struggled to slow down the red-hot Wayland Baptist shooting in the first half as the Evangels fell 89-46 to the Pioneers in the Sooner Athletic Conference Quarterfinal Presented by Athletic Solutions inside Abe Lemons Arena on Wednesday night.
 
SCORE

• Wayland Baptist 89, Mid-America Christian 46
  • Mid-America Christian (19-10)
  • Wayland Baptist (23-6)

TOP PERFORMERS

• James Locke – 11 Points, 4-11 FG, 3-8 3FG, 2 Reb
• Clance Crosby – 10 Points, 5-9 FG, 4 Reb
• Corey Skillman – 6 Points, 3-7 FG, 4 Reb

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half            
  • Wayland Baptist opened the contest with a three-pointer from the top of the key from Jamari Lawrence as the Pioneers canned four treys in the first three-and-a-half minutes as Brett Leach's long ball with 16:40 to go gave WBU the early 12-4 advantage, prompting an early MACU timeout.
  • The Pioneers rattled off seven more out of the break to stretch their early lead to 19-4 on Lawrence's third triple from the left wing with 14:28 remaining.
  • The Evangels finally snapped the spell on two Shannon Strickland free throws and Clance Crosby's putback bucket with 13:20 left to make it a 19-8 game, but the Pioneers countered with eight of the next 10 with Marcus Green draining a fastbreak three from the right side to extend the edge back to 27-10 with just over 10-and-a-half left to go.
  • While a Corey Skillman steal and breakaway lay-in briefly snapped the run with 10:10 left, the Pioneers continued to expand on their lead, building it up to 34-12 on Green's bucket with just under eight minutes to go.
  • After Skillman knocked down a fadeaway jumper on the right baseline to bring it back a 20-point game at the 7:32 mark, the Evangels struggled to keep the Pioneers off the foul line over the next three minutes as WBU scored eight of the next 12 with six coming from the foul line with Green's foul shots just out of the media timeout making it 42-18 with 4:29 on the clock.
  • The Evangels went scoreless over the final 4:50 as the Pioneers closed out with a 9-0 surge capped off on Brett Leach's tip-in bucket at the buzzer to send the Pioneers into the break with the 49-18 advantage.
• Second Half
  • Mid-America Christian struggled to put a dent into the Pioneers lineup through the first six minutes before a Clay Baldwin long jumper from the left side fired up a 7-0 MACU surge as his foul shot with 12:01 to go make it a 59-29 game, prompting a WBU timeout with 11:45 on the clock.
  • Lawrence continued to be a near unstoppable force for the Pioneers as his back-to-back buckets ignited a six-unanswered surge before Baldwin's and-one bucket and James Locke's steal and fastbreak lay-in closed it to 65-34 with 9:51 on the clock heading into the midway media.
  • Locke and WBU's Green and Rico Yarbrough traded threes over the next three minutes with MACU's senior guard burying a trio of long balls to bring it to 71-43 with just under seven minutes left.
  • The Pioneers rattled off 16-straight over the next three-and-a-half minutes as Niels Guinchard's fastbreak lay-in at the 2:21 pushed the Pioneers advantage out to 85-43.
  • On the ensuing possession, Ronnie Lopez finally snapped MACU's five-minute scoreless streak with a banked in three from the right side with 2:04 to go, but the Pioneers scored the final four to wrap-up the 89-46 final.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian put up one of its worst shooting performances of the season, going 18-for-64 (28.1 percent) from the field, including 4-of-24 (16.7 percent) from the three-point arc and converted only 6-for-11 (54.5 percent) from the stripe.
• The Evangels struggled to slow down Wayland Baptist's offense all night as the Pioneers finished 31-of-65 (47.7 percent) from the field, including 13-for-34 (38.2 percent) from three as well as effectively converting 14-for-15 (93.3 percent) from the foul line.
• Wayland Baptist controlled the glass, out-rebounding MACU 50-32 with a 13-10 edge on the offensive glass, resulting in a 12-4 advantage in second chance points.
• The Pioneers also held a slight edge in the turnover battle, forcing MACU 15 giveaways to 14 for WBU.
• James Locke led all MACU scorers with 11 points, going 4-for-11, including 3-of-8 from downtown.
• Clance Crosby was the only other Evangel to break into double-figures, finishing 5-for-9 from the floor for 10 points to go along with four rebounds.
• With the defeat, the Pioneers took two out of three against MACU as the Evangels wrap-up the SAC Tourney with a 19-10 overall record.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now await to see if it will qualify for the NAIA Tournament.