ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] Missouri Baptist men's basketball suffered its third straight loss to open the 2013-14 season on Tuesday evening in a 121-92 defeat at the hands of No. 18 Culver-Stockton College.
Missouri Baptist (0-3) had a rough go of it from start to finish on Tuesday. Culver-Stockton out rebounded the Spartans 48-38, and shot 79 percent from the charity stripe on the way to the team's second win of the season. James Johnson finished with 26 points to lead all scorers. The Wildcat forward went 6-8 from three-point range, accounting for 18 of his 26.
MBU again lost the turnover battle for the second consecutive contest. The Spartans coughed the ball up 14 times and forced six Culver-Stockton turnovers on the night.
Though MBU dropped the game, four players finished in double digits. Kalvin Lewis led the way with 22 points, five rebounds, two steals and three assists. Freshman Corey McKinney collected his second double-double on the season. He posted 17 points and 12 boards in the game.
Chris Buzzell continued the solid freshman guard play and finished his night with 17 points, one blocked shot and one steal.
The Spartans led briefly in the opening minutes in the first half, but the Wildcats quickly erased the slight MBU lead and took full control. Culver-Stockton went on a 14-2 run to take a 25-13 lead and simply never looked back.
Culver-Stockton built as much as a 23 point lead in the first half alone, but MBU came back to cut the advantage to 18 as the teams headed into halftime. The Wildcats led by as many as 33 in the game, but ended as strong as they started with a 29-point win.
Both teams shot slightly above 50 percent in the game, but the edge came in the turnover and free throw categories. Culver-Stockton had 34 attempted free throws on the night as opposed to MBU's 22. The Spartans had four players finish with four fouls.
Next up for Missouri Baptist will be the homecoming game on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 4:00 p.m. vs. Lindenwood-Belleville. This will be the home opener for MBU in the 2013-14 season.
