Photo by Kami Wood
Oklahoma City, Okla. – The Central Christian College Men's Basketball team came close to upsetting the Mid-America Christian University Evangels on their home court. The Tigers looked to continue their high level of play coming off a win at Southwestern Christian University just two days prior.
The Tigers started off hot with a 15-5 lead just five minutes into the game. They would go cold near the end of the half as MACU would go on a 17-0 run to close out the first half and lead 39-34.
Starting the second half, the Tigers would score five straight to even the score at 39-39. MACU would go on a run that would see them having a 65-53 lead with nine minutes remaining in the game. After an incredible Central run and a Andre Shelby three to give Central the lead, MACU responded with a quick score of their own to give them the lead. The Tigers would ultimately drop the game 76-75. Omari Maulana led the Tigers in scoring with 19 points and Andre Shelby secured a double-double with 15 points and 16 rebounds.
Key Statistic
One of the big differences was in the three-point shooting. The Evangels went 8-15 and shot 53% from deep as opposed to Central going 7-25 and shooting 28% from beyond the arc.
By the Numbers
For the game, the Tigers made 21 of 58 (36%) of their attempts from the floor.
At the free throw line, the Tigers were 26 of 27 (96%).
The Tigers won the turnover battle 11 to 12, but were outrebounded by the Evangels 38 to 37
Tiger Leaders
Points: Omari Maulana (19)
Rebounds: Andre Shelby (16)
Assists: Andre Shelby, Malachi Farr, Jaeden Whitten (2)
Steals: Jevarrick Butler (3)
Blocks: Andre Shelby (2)
Coaches Quote:
"Tough loss on the road versus a very athletic and well coached MACU team. The game was really lost in a 5 minute stretch in the last part of the first half, we were up 12 at that point with under 5 to go in the first, we then gave up a 17-0 run to close the half. It's hard to overcome that and win in our league. Credit to our guys, we battled back and forth the second half and came back from down 13 to take the lead with just under a minute to go. Then just couldn't get the stop we needed the next possession. Proud of our effort and resilience. Our guys are tough, they keep battling and finding ways to put themselves in position to have an opportunity to win games. From an execution standpoint, we need to improve we cannot afford mental errors at this point in the season. However, this is not just on the players, we need to coach our guys better so we don't have some of the errors we committed at stretches throughout the game. A tough week ahead. Looking forward to getting in the gym to practice things we need to improve on." - Coach Tony Romero
Next Up
The Tigers (6-7, 3-4), are back home for their next two games with their first one being on January 11th against the University of Science and Arts Drovers. Tip-off is set for 7:45PM.
