Contributed by MBU Sports Information
Missouri Baptist men's basketball started Thursday's game against the NAIA No. 1-ranked Columbia College on a 6-0 run in the opening minutes of the game. This run ended-up the only lead that the Spartans carried on the evening in a 61-93 loss on the road.
Missouri Baptist (7-11, 2-3 AMC) has had struggles with its offense this season, which seemed to carry over to Thursday's game. As a team, MBU was held to 36 percent shooting from the floor while Columbia shot just under 55 percent on the night.
LeAndre Johnson led the scoring for the Spartans from the beginning. The senior drained his first shot, a three pointer, just seconds into the game to get his team started in the right direction. After MBU built a 6-0 lead, Columbia roared back to shut-down the Spartan offense.
The Cougars went on a 27-4 to answer Missouri Baptist in a big way. This was one of the worst stretches on the night for the Spartans as Columbia seemed untouchable at points. Columbia forced 12 MBU turnovers in the first half alone en-route to posting 54 points in the opening 20 minutes.
The second half was a different story as MBU stayed right with Columbia. After digging a 31-point deficit in the first half, the team recorded 38 points in the second, one fewer than the Cougars.
Senior Jordan Dressler, who recorded 19 points on the evening, led Columbia on Thursday. Dressler, an NAIA All-American one year ago, was outstanding yet again and has looked like one of the top post players in the nation. Devin Griffin (15 points, five assists) and Derrick Dilworth (14 points, three assists, two steals) were the only others who finished with double-digit point totals on the night.
LeAndre Johnson, who posted 16 points, led Missouri Baptist. Johnson is now 95 points shy of 1,000 career points. Johnson is currently averaging 14 points per game this season and if this average holds, may break into the 1,000 point club as early at Feb. 9 at home against Benedictine University-Springfield.
Kalvin Lewis and Adrian Kuyinu also posted 10 points a piece in the game for MBU. Lewis was 2-2 from three-point range.
Missouri Baptist will get just one day off before hosting Williams Baptist College on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is scheduled at 4:00 p.m. at the Carl and Deloris Petty Sports and Recreation Complex.
