South OKC News

The Mid-America Christian men's basketball team got back on the winning track in its last game of 2022 as Eylan Goodwyn's go-ahead floating jumper with 17 seconds left helped propel the Evangels to a 72-69 victory at Bethel on Friday night.

 

TOP PERFORMERS

• Eylan Goodwyn – 19 Points, 9-15 FG, 4 Reb
• Jonathan Alexandre – 14 Points, 5-7 FG, 4-5 3FG, 8 Reb
• Quentin Woodson – 12 Points, 4-6 FG, 4-6 FT, 4 Steals, 3 Reb, 2 Assists
• Seth Hurd – 10 Points, 5-10 FG, 9 Reb, 2 Assists

GAME SUMMARY

• First Half
  • After an Eylan Goodwyn three from the left corner on a Seth Hurd kickout game Mid-America Christian (4-8) a 3-2 lead, Bethel scored eight unanswered as a Bryant Mocaby layup pushed the Threshers edge out to 10-3 with 15:27 left.
  • With the Evangels trailing by six, a Goodwyn contested lay-in with 13:32 to go ignited a 7-2 MACU run as a Jonathan Alexandre buzzer-beating three-pointer from the right wing to beat the shot clock closed it to a 14-13 deficit at the 12:16 mark.
  • Bethel (7-6) built its lead back out to six before another Goodwyn triple from the top of the key made it a 19-16 game with just under 11 minutes remaining.
  • The Threshers took their largest lead of the half with 9:36 to go on a Harper Jonas three-ball, but MACU swung back with a 10-unanswered run as a Conner Calavan triple gave the Evangels the lead before a Hurd jumper from near the top of the key stretched the MACU advantage to 30-25 with 5:51 left.
  • Five straight for BC brought the game back to a tie on a Nick Bonner three, but Hurd answered with another jumper from the top to put MACU back in-front 32-30 with 4:45 to go.
  • With both teams struggling offensively down the stretch, a Jonas triple put Bethel back ahead before a Tarrence Gaines steal led to a wide-open DaRaun Clark layup closed the gap to 35-34 at the 1:47 mark.
  • BC's Ekene Duru and Quentin Woodson traded layups on back-to-back possessions with 1:05 and 42 seconds remaining, but the Evangels were unable to find a go-ahead bucket down the stretch as the Threshers took a 37-36 lead into the break.
  • Goodwyn and Alexandre led the Evangels scoring efforts in the opening half as Goodwyn poured in 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting while Alexandre tallied eight points on 3-for-5 shooting, including 2-of-3 from three.
• Second Half
  • A Mocaby three-ball on Bethel's first play of the half briefly pushed the Threshers lead out to four before the Evangels swung back with five unanswered behind a Jaylon Barnett three-point play and a Hurd layup put MACU back in-front 41-40 with just over 18 minutes left.
  • Following a Jonas steal and a fastbreak three-point play, Bethel rattled off a 15-2 run with five three-point shots, the last coming from Mocaby to give the Threshers their largest lead of the contest at 55-43 with 13:15 to go.
  • The Evangels defense clamped down on Bethel over the next seven minutes as MACU countered with a 16-3 run of its own as Hurd's third long-range jumper from above the free throw line put MACU ahead 59-58 with just under seven minutes remaining.
  • Bethel score seven of the next nine to retake a four-point lead before Alexandre canned his fourth three-ball of the contest to close it back to 65-64 with 3:23 left.
  • After a Mocaby made it a three-point Threshers advantage with 1:36 to go, MACU answered on the other end as Quentin Woodson drove down the lane and finished at the rim to cut it back to a one-point game at 69-68 with 1:11 on the clock.
  • On the ensuing possession, Bethel tried to put the game away with a three-pointer from the left wing, but Goodwyn flew in to block the shot and Travonte Doolittle came down with the defensive board, giving the Evangels the opportunity to take the lead following a timeout with 34 seconds left.
  • On the following possession, Alexandre drove down the right side before kicking it to the right elbow for Goodwyn. Driving into the paint, Goodwyn threw up a floating fall-away jumper that rolled around the rim before falling in, giving MACU the 70-69 lead with 17 seconds remaining.
  • Mid-America Christian came up with another huge defensive stop on the next possession as Tarrence Gaines was fouled with 4.5 seconds left. Despite not coming up with a score for the entire night, Gaines came up clutch from the line, swishing both his foul shots to push the Evangels' edge out to 72-69.
  • The Evangels defensively forced the Threshers to go the length of the court as Mocaby was forced into a tightly contested deep three-pointer at the buzzer that fell short to hang on for the win.

GAME NOTES

• For just the third time this season, Mid-America Christian shot 50 percent or better from the floor as MACU went 29-for-58 (50 percent) and shot well from the three-point arc, knocking down its second-best three-point percentage of the season by going 7-of-17 (41.2 percent) and converted 7-of-11 (63.6 percent) of its free throw attempts.
• Defensively, the Evangels help Bethel to 26-for-62 (41.9 percent) from the field as the team lived and died from the three-point arc, going 12-of-35 (34.3 percent) from downtown. Much like the Threshers, MACU did a strong job of keeping Bethel off the foul line as BC knocked down just 5-for-10 (50 percent).
• While Bethel won the turnover battle by a slight 12-to-13 edge, the Evangels were the better team on the glass by outrebounding the Threshers 37-to-35.
• Bench scoring played a major factor in the contest as MACU's reserves outscored Bethel's 34-22.
• Along with hitting the game-winning shot, Eylan Goodwyn led a balanced MACU offensive effort with 19 points on 9-of-15 shooting to go with four rebounds.
• Jonathan Alexandre and Quentin Woodson each came up with big games off the MACU bench as Alexandre poured in 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including going 4-for-5 from three-point range to go with eight rebounds. Woodson provided a big-time spark both offensively and defensively by finishing with 12 points on 4-of-6 from the floor, 4-for-6 from the charity stripe and a career-high four steals to go with three rebounds and two assists.
• Seth Hurd narrowly missed a double-double, scoring 10 points on 5-of-10 shooting while pulling down a game-high nine boards to go with a pair of dimes.
• Mid-America Christian improved to 2-0 all-time against Bethel after the two teams played to a 92-84 overtime final inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Nov. 6, 2021.
• The Evangels also snapped the Threshers hot streak as Bethel came into the contest coming off a pair of 30-point wins. The victory also gave some momentum to the Evangels as MACU snapped out of a streak that saw them lose eight of nine coming into the contest.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will return to Sooner Athletic Conference play to open the new year as the Evangels will head to Fort Worth, Texas to take on Texas Wesleyan on Monday, Jan. 2. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. inside the Sid Richardson Center.

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