Third-ranked Mid-America Christian used a big second half to fend off No. 9 Wayland Baptist in Sooner Athletic Conference play Thursday night in Hutcherson Center, 73-58.
The unbeaten Evangels outscored Wayland 50-29 after intermission. MACU first overcame a six-point deficit with 11 unanswered points, then after the Pioneers rallied back, MACU answered with 10 straight points. Wayland couldn't respond and the Pioneers suffered their fourth straight loss.
Wayland (8-5, 2-3 SAC) was hurt by missing 13 free throws as the Pioneers shot just 46 percent (11-of-24) from the foul stripe, despite
J.J. Culver's 6-of-7 effort. The Evangels, meanwhile, went 23-of-29 (79 percent).
WBU also struggled from 3-point range where the Pioneers hit just 3-of-18 (17 percent) compared to MACU's 8-of-21 (38 percent).
Against MACU's pressure defense, Wayland's 58 points represent the team's second-lowest of the season, behind only a 50-point effort against No. 21 Texas Wesleyan in the Pioneers' previous game last Saturday in Fort Worth.
The Evangels also held an advantage on the boards, outrebounding Wayland, 42-31. The Pioneers had three players with five rebounds each to lead the team.
Tre Fillmore was Wayland's leading scorer with 12 points, followed by Culver with 11 and
CJ Obinwa and
Jack Nobles with nine each.
Payton Havens was credited with half of Wayland's 14 assists, while
Jibrael Washington blocked six shots.
MACU got balanced scored with D'Von Moore and Terrance Jones netting 14 each off the bench. Ashford Golden added 12 and Cedric Wright 11. Wright also pulled down 10 rebounds, as did Dominick Ford who missed matching Wright's double-double by one point. Golden missed it by two rebounds.
MACU won despite 23 turnovers, five more than Wayland.
Wayland led by as many as nine in the first half, which ended with the Pioneers ahead, 29-23.
MACU opened the second half on a 8-2 run to tie it at 31. Wayland scored the next six, but the Evangels then went on the biggest run of the game, 11-0, to take a 42-37 lead with just over 12 minutes to play.
The Pioneers trailed 47-41 but put up seven straight points, the last on a fast-break lay-up by Fillmore after a steal by Culver, to take a 48-47 lead with 9½ minutes left. But MACU again answered, this time with a 10-0 run that put the Evangels up 57-48 with 5:20 to play.
A 3-pointer by Fillmore cut it to six, but that's as close as Wayland came as MACU's Moore immediately matched Fillmore's 3.
The largest spread was the 15-point final score.
The Pioneers look to end their longest losing skid in four years when they host Science & Arts of Oklahoma at 3:45 p.m. Saturday. USAO (7-7, 2-3) defeated Oklahoma-Panhandle State on Thursday, 96-56, to snap a two-game slide that saw losses to MACU at home, 98-86, and No. 10 John Brown on the road, 70-55.
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