ST. LOUIS – Missouri Baptist freshman Chris Buzzell has been fantastic all season for the Spartans and on Thursday night, showed just how valuable he is. The guard posted a career-high 25 points and led the Spartans to a 74-65 win over Hannibal-LaGrange in the American Midwest Conference opener.
Missouri Baptist (1-9) was looking for its first win of the year and got a nice post-Christmas gift with the victory. The win, however, did not come easily.
The Spartans held a 14-point advantage with just over 12 minutes to play when the Trojans began to chip away at the lead. Hannibal went on a 21-6 run in the span of just over seven minutes to take a brief, 57-56 lead. It was at this point that the Spartans locked back in.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Logan Quinn and Chris Buzzell with just over five minutes remaining put MBU back up for good. For Buzzell, it was a career night. He finished with 25 points and five steals (four of which came in the first half). Kalvin Lewis and Stanley Eboh both finished with 10 points a piece, which rounded out the MBU players in double digits.
Joe Williams and Stephen Campbell led the scoring for the Trojans. Both players finished with 10 points a piece.
Missouri Baptist will get back to work on Saturday when the team hosts Benedictine-Springfield. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at the Carl and Deloris Petty Sports and Recreation Complex.
