Trevonte Doolittle had an opportunity to give the MACU men’s basketball team a thrilling win at Science & Arts, but his pull-up jumper rolled off the rim at the buzzer as MACU fell 64-63 inside the Drover Fieldhouse on Thursday night.
TOP PERFORMERS
- Seth Hurd – 16 Points, 8-11 FG, 2 Reb, 2 Blocks
- Eylan Goodwyn – 15 Points, 6-13 FG, 3-5 3FG, 6 Reb, 4 Assists
- Trevonte Doolittle – 10 Points, 4-7 FG, 2-4 3FG, 4 Reb
GAME SUMMARY
- First Half
- Science & Arts (12-11, 9-8 SAC) opened the contest by scoring five of the first seven as Logan Dolan’s three with just under 19 minutes remaining gave the Drovers their largest lead of the game at 5-2.
- On the following possession, Trevonte Doolittle buried an open three from the left wing to tie it up as Mid-America Christian (9-14, 6-11 SAC) rattled off seven-straight to make it a 9-5 lead on Doolittle’s midrange jumper with 17:12 remaining.
- After the Drovers closed it to a two-point game at 11-9 on Gerard Makuntae layup at the 15:21 mark, but Eylan Goodwyn rattled in a three to start a 9-2 MACU run capped off on Quentin Woodson’s offensive rebound and putback to extend the lead to 20-11 with just over 12 minutes left.
- Allen Cade’s layup cut it to a seven-point contest at the midway mark, but Jonathan Alexandre buried a three from the right corner before Jaylon Barnett finished strong with the left hand with 9:12 remaining to swell the MACU edge to 27-15.
- The Drovers knocked it back to single-digits on a Jaden Harrell layup six-and-a-half to go, but a pair of triples from Conner Calavan and Alexandre started a 10-2 Evangels streak as Goodwyn’s midrange jumper gave MACU its largest lead of the contest at 39-22 at the 1:42 mark.
- USAO held MACU scoreless the rest of the way as a Ceejay Mann three-pointer with 1:30 left closed the gap to 39-25 heading into the halftime break.
- Second Half
- Tarrence Gaines knocked down one of two foul shots on MACU’s first possession to extend the edge to 15, but after being held to 2-of-14 shooting from three-point range in the second half, Science & Arts caught fire from downtown as USAO knocked down four threes during a 14-straight streak as Samkelo Sele’s midrange shot closed it to 40-39 with just under 16 minutes left.
- On the next possession, Seth Hurd dumped in MACU’s first bucket of the half before Goodwyn buried a three with 14:25 on the clock to push the Evangels edge back out to 45-41.
- The Drovers scored seven of the next nine over the next three minutes as Tyler Cauley’s three gave USAO its first lead since early in the first half at 48-47 with 11:12 to go.
- The two teams exchanged leads five times over the next four minutes before another Goodwyn triple put MACU back ahead 55-53 at the 7:16 mark.
- Science & Arts tied it up on a pair of occasions before Hurd’s offensive putback followed by Goodwyn’s pump-fake lay-in made it a 61-57 MACU advantage with 3:38 left.
- Hurd muscled in a layup off a Calavan assist with 2:14 on the clock to put the MACU edge back at four at 63-59 with 2:14 left, but that would be the Evangels’ last score of the contest.
- The Drovers went on a 5-0 run over the final two minutes as Jaden Harrell found an open Cauley cutting to the bucket for what would be the game-winning layup with 1:13 remaining.
- The MACU defense came up with one last defensive stop to get the ball back with 13 seconds left, but Doolittle’s potential game-winning shot at the buzzer rolled off the rim as the Drovers held on for the 64-63 win.
GAME NOTES
- While Mid-America Christian outshot Science & Arts by going 27-for-59 (45.8 percent) from the field compared to 20-of-59 (39.2 percent) for the Drovers, the free throw discrepancy was heavily in-favor of USAO the home team buried 15-for-19 (78.9 percent) while MACU knocked down just 2-of-8 (25 percent).
- Even though the Evangels dominated the glass by a 42-31 margin, Science & Arts forced 12 MACU turnovers in the second half to hold a nine-to-15 differential in turnovers.
- Seth Hurd led MACU’s offensive efforts with 16 points while efficiently shooting 8-of-11 from the field to go with a pair of rebounds and two blocked shots.
- Eylan Goodwyn finished with 15 points on 6-for-13 shooting, including 3-of-5 from downtown while pulling down six rebounds and dishing out a team-high four assists.
- Trevonte Doolittle was the only other Evangel player to crack double-digits with 10 points on 4-of-7 form the field and 2-for-4 from range to go with four boards.
- Tarrence Gaines led MACU on the glass with nine rebounds, all of which coming on the defensive end.
- Mid-America Christian narrowly missed snapping its losing streak to the Drovers as USAO has now won seven straight in the series to take an 18-17 lead in the all-time series. Science & Arts claims the season series after coming away with a 96-84 victory inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Dec. 8.
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