ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] Missouri Baptist men's basketball came one point short of an upset of Lyon College in a 60-59 loss in Arkansas.
Missouri Baptist (6-20, 5-11) looked great from the tip and made a serious bid to grab a tough win on the road. With less than five minutes in the first half, the Spartans took their biggest lead of the opening 20 minutes, thanks to a three-pointer by LauRen Jones, to take an eight-point lead.
By halftime, MBU led by four and was out-shooting the Scots 55 percent to 43 percent.
As the final period began, the game remained close. There were five lead changes in the second half, but the final one was the one that mattered. After a three-pointer by Cody Hudson at the 10:01 mark, MBU gained its final lead of the game, 49-48.
From that point, Lyon regained its advantage. The Scots went on a 9-1 lead to take a seven-point lead, but the Spartans came back. MBU went on a 9-3 run to end the game, but simply ran out of time as Jones fired a wide three-point try as time expired.
The Spartans were lead by Kalvin Lewis. The senior finished the game with 20 points and two steals. Jones was the only other Spartan to finish in double figures (12 points).
Overall in the game, Missouri Baptist shot 51 percent from the floor and 40 percent from three-point range, though the team was out-rebounded 31-19.
Jordan Layrock, who finished with 21 points and led all scorers, led Lyon. He, along with combined 22 points of Riley Jenkins and Ricky Thomas, led the home team to the team's 12 conference victory of the year.
Missouri Baptist will now move down to eighth place in the AMC and will be fighting to stay in that spot in order to host the first-round conference playoff game. MBU will now head back to St. Louis and will play Harris-Stowe on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at HSSU.
