South OKC News

The Mid-America Christian men's basketball team will have to wait a little longer to acquire its first win in Sooner Athletic Conference play as the Evangels suffered a heartbreaking 67-64 loss at Central Christian inside Jerry Alexander Arena on Saturday.

 

TOP PERFORMERS

• Trevonte Doolittle - 16 Points, 6-13 FG, 2-5 3FG, 6 Reb, 2 Steals
• Seth Hurd - 14 Points, 6-10 FG, 5 Reb
• DaRaun Clark - 9 Points, 12 Reb, 3 Assists

GAME SUMMARY

 

• First Half
  • The Evangels got off to a hot start by jumping out to an 8-0 lead behind a pair of three-pointers from DaRaun Clark and Trevonte Doolittle before Jaylon Barnett got the put-back layup off of Seth Hurd's rebound and dish with 16:21 left.
  • After Central Christian finally got on-the-board off an Isaiah Rivera bucket, the Evangels were able to extend their lead to 13 at 15-2 on an Eylan Goodwyn three-ball, a Seth Hurd fastbreak layup and a pair of Clark foul shots with 14:14 left.
  • After Rivera and Goodwyn traded buckets, the Tigers clawed their way back by utilizing an 11-3 run behind a pair of Demario Moore three-pointers and a Reece Warren triple before Jakir Hampton nailed a pull-up jumper from the left elbow to make it a 20-15 game with 9:10 to go.
  • Back-to-back three-pointers by Conner Calavan off of two Barnett dimes would get the MACU lead back up to 11 with 7:17 remaining, but following a Tigers timeout, Central Christian put together a quick 7-0 run capped off on a strong finish by Rivera on the left baseline to trim the MACU lead down 26-22 with 5:04 to play.
  • The Tigers would eventually tie it on a Rivera layup with two minutes to go for the first matching score of the night.
  • Tarrence Gaines would get the lead back for MACU with a layup at the 1:17 mark, but the Tigers tied it at 31 going into half on Andre Shelby's step-back jumper on the left side with 51 seconds left.

 

• Second Half
  • Mid-America Christian got off to a strong start by scoring 10 of the first 13 points as a Clark put-back with 16:30 remaining pushed the MACU advantage out to 41-34.
  • Central Christian continued to chisel away at the MACU lead over the next few minutes as Shelby finished off a three-point play with 14:08 left to close it to 43-42.
  • The Evangels managed to hang onto the lead for most of the half before Rivera went coast-to-coast for the fastbreak layup to tie it up at 55 with 5:43 to go.
  • Hurd and Rivera traded the next three buckets to put MACU back in-front with 2:17 remaining, but Central Christian locked down defensively as a pair of Shelby foul shots tied it up before Rivera gave the Tigers their first and only lead of the game with 1:02 remaining.
  • CCCK came up with a huge defensive stop on the ensuing possession as Shelby's block led to a Warren fastbreak layup with 32 seconds left to push the Tigers' edge out to 63-59.
  • Doolittle came up with a huge three on the following possession as Barnett drove down the lane before scooping a pass to the left corner for the three-ball, making it a 63-62 contest with 22 seconds left.
  • Rivera was able to capitalize from a pair of trips to the free throw line on the next two Central Christian possessions as he knocked down all four of his attempts in-between a Barnett quick take to the rim, bringing it to a 67-64 game with just 6.9 seconds remaining.
  • On MACU's final possession, Barnett dribbled toward the right corner before pulling up for the buzzer-beating three, but his attempt was left just short to wrap-up the 67-64 final.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian struggled from the floor all night as the Evangels could only muster 25-for-75 (33.3 percent) from the field and 8-for-29 (27.6 percent) from the three-point arc. MACU also struggled to get to the foul line against the Tigers as MACU was held to just 10 attempts at a 6-of-10 (60 percent) rate.
• Central Christian also struggled against MACU's defense as CCCK shot 25-for-66 (37.9 percent), but were especially cold from behind the arc at 5-of-30 (16.7 percent). However, the Tigers were able to put the game away from the foul line late by finishing 12-for-18 (66.7 percent) from the charity stripe.
• Mid-America Christian won the rebounding battle by a 52-44 edge on the glass, which included a 17-10 margin on the offensive end, but the Tigers held a slim 11-10 edge in the turnover department.
• Trevonte Doolittle led the MACU offensive efforts with 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting, including 2-for-5 from three to go with six rebounds and two steals.
• Seth Hurd was the only other Evangel to crack into double-digit scoring with 14 points on 6-of-10 from the field to go with five boards.
• A pair of Evangels ripped down double-digit rebounds with DaRaun Clark leading MACU on the glass with 12 boards while Tarrence Gaines pulled down 10.
• Jaylon Barnett was MACU's leading distributor with six assists and just two turnovers for a 3-to-1 assist/turnover ratio.
• By suffering the defeat, Mid-America Christian fell to 2-2 on the season and 0-2 in SAC play while the Tigers improved to 3-4 with a 1-1 mark in conference play.
• The loss snapped a 12-game win streak for the Evangels over Central Christian. The last time MACU was defeated by the Tigers came on Dec. 11, 2004 in McPherson.

Original source can be found here