ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] Missouri Baptist men's basketball collected big buckets down the stretch in Tuesday's American Midwest Conference game against Williams Baptist to grab a 77-73 win. With the victory, the Spartans move to sixth place in the AMC standings.
Missouri Baptist (6-19, 5-10 AMC) had four players finish in double digits to secure the win in front of a raucous home crowd. MBU played disciplined basketball for 40 minutes and recorded just 13 fouls in the game.
Chris Buzzell was the standout performer for Missouri Baptist and was a key component to the win down the stretch. The Houston native finished with 20 points, including two clutch free throws at the end of the game to ice the win.
Kalvin Lewis, playing in what is potentially his second to last home game of his career, was fantastic. The senior collected a double double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. He now has 1,157 career points over four years.
Missouri Baptist led by just one at the half and improved to 5-5 this season when holding a lead at the break. Over the course of the second half, MBU never trailed by more than two, though the lead changed hands eight times.
Freshman Corey McKinney was very solid on both sides of the ball for Missouri Baptist. McKinney posted 14 points, eight rebounds and four blocks on the night.
With just 48 seconds left on the clock, Missouri Baptist led by seven, but the Eagles managed to nearly erase the entire lead. Kam Ashabranner hit a jumper with 40 seconds to cut the lead to five. A free throw cut the lead to four, and after a Spartan turnover, E.J. Rucker hit the three-pointer to make it a one-point ballgame with 23 seconds left. This was, however, as close as the score got in the closing seconds.
After an inbound, Buzzell was fouled with 21 seconds left. The freshman went to the line in the double bonus and knocked-down both of his opportunities to make it a three-point game. Stanley Eboh later hit a free throw to make it a two possession game and that would do it for the Spartans.
Tony Jefferies was outstanding for the Eagles. The forward netted 30 points and 13 rebounds on the night to lead his team. Jefferies was on the way to potentially playing 40 minutes, but a cramp caused him to be pulled for a short time while MBU Athletic Trainers worked with him. He returned to the game in the closing minutes, still visibly dealing with some pain, and was excellent for his team.
Missouri Baptist will now head to Batesville, Ark., to play the Scots of Lyon College on Thursday. Game time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
