SHAWNEE- On Thursday evening, St. Gregory's (10-14, 6-11 SAC) defeated the defending national champions, Mid-America Christian (15-14, 6-11 SAC), for the second time this season. This game went down to the wire, but the Cavs pulled off the 50-49 win.
The Evangels came into this game as the No. 3 scoring offense in the nation, averaging 89.54 points per game, and the Cavaliers played excellent defense against the high powered offense.
In the first half, the Cavs held MACU to only 19 points, and only 25 percent shooting from the field. SGU did a great job at grabbing rebounds, and hitting shots when it mattered. St. Gregory's led for the entire first half, and took a 31-19 lead into the locker room between halves.
Jordan Rutherford (SR/Houston, Texas) led all players in scoring in the first half with 12 points, and he also had 5 rebounds. The Evangels were led offensively, by Olajuwon Garner's 9 points.
For the first 5 minutes of the second half, both teams were playing tough defense, and not allowing many points. For the next two minutes though, Mid-America would go on a run and cut SGU's lead to 33-26. With 8:30 to go in the half, SGU led 42-31, but within the next minute, MACU went on an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to only three points. The Evangels made it a one-point game with 6:56 to go, and from that point on, the game was incredibly close and exciting. The Cavs would extend their lead to 49-44 with 2:12 remaining in the game, but then MACU went on a 5-0 run to tie the game for the first time since the opening tip-off. On the Cavaliers' final possession, Rodney Smith (SR/Chicago, Ill.) was fouled with 4.9 seconds remaining, and this sent him to the free-throw line for two shots. Smith would miss the first shot, before a timeout was called. After the timeout, Smith drained the second shot to give the Cavs the 50-49 lead with less than 5 seconds to go. MACU drove the length of the court and they were able to get on shot off before the buzzer, but the shot was no good, giving the Cavs the season sweep over the defending national champions.
The Cavaliers held Mid-America to it's lowest single game point total of the season so far, and the Cavs' defense also held MACU to shooting 30 percent from the field. St. Gregory's only shot 27.1 percent in the game, but they made up for it at the free-throw line, where the team shot 83.3 percent.
Jordan Rutherford scored 16 points and grabbed 8 rebounds, while Zachary Lemusu (SR/San Diego, Calif.) recorded his second double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Rodney Smith finished with 7 points, 3 assists, and a new career high, 8 rebounds. Michael Maras (JR/Tulsa, Okla.) scored 8 points, and Kilder Gonzalez (JR/Maracaibo, Venezuela) scored 6 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, and dished out three assists.
MACU was led by Malcolm Mann's 17 points and 9 rebounds, while Olajuwon Garner finished with 9 points.
The Cavs will now head to Waxahachie, Texas, to take on SAGU on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 5 PM.