ST. LOUIS – [Box Score] On a night where turnovers proved to be the difference, the Missouri Baptist men's basketball team fell victim to a 85-61 defeat to Columbia College. The Spartans were marred with 16 turnovers in the contest, setting-up 25 Cougar points.
Missouri Baptist (3-13, 2-7 AMC) shot a respectable .444 in the contest and made 24-of-54 shots from the floor. The Spartans added 5-of-15 shots from deep territory and sank 8-of-10 from the free throw line.
Columbia (14-3, 7-2 AMC) made 31-of-66 (.470) from the floor and added 18-of-25 from the charity stripe. The Cougars won the rebounding battle, 39-33, and turned the ball over just five times.
Sophomore Chris Buzzell led MBU with 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor. He added two rebounds, one assist, and one steal over 29 minutes of action.
Junior Stephen Buckner scored 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor. He sank 2-of-4 from downtown and made both free throws.
Junior James King and sophomore Stanley Eboh shared the load on the glass. Eboh led the Spartans with eight boards, while King pitched-in with seven rebounds.
Over the first five minutes of the contest, the Cougars turned three Spartan turnovers into seven points to take an 18-4 lead. Columbia made 7-of-9 shots during the span. Missouri Baptist was forced to take a timeout in attempt to slow down the home team.
Columbia later extended the lead to 28-6, but the Spartans got a bit of a spark from freshman Josh Davis. The Cougars looked to get an easy two points after a 3-on-2 fast break, but Davis swatted the attempted shot. The Spartans sprinted down the floor, Davis posted-up, and got the mid-range jumper to fall. That cut the deficit to 28-8.
The spark was short-lived, as the Cougars continued to stay hot offensively. Columbia never allowed the Spartans to get into a groove and extended the lead to 41-16.
Missouri Baptist was able to go on an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 41-24 with 4:14 left, but a 6-0 Columbia run gave the Cougars the cushion once again. James King scored the final bucket of the half, but Columbia took a 47-26 lead into the halftime break.
The Spartans shot just 34 percent in the half, while Columbia shot over 50 percent.
Over the first seven minutes of the second half, the two teams were much more even, as Columbia outscored MBU just 12-10.
Outside of the turnovers, the Spartans played right with the Cougars. With seven minutes left in the contest, Columbia outrebounded MBU just 28-27, and both teams were just over 40 percent from the floor. The 14 turnovers for the Spartans turned into 23 points for Columbia, which helped the home team take a 73-49 lead.
The deficit swelled to the largest of the night when Columbia took a 80-54 lead with 3:05 left in the game. Missouri Baptist was unable to get the deficit under 20 points and the final horn sounded with the Cougars winning, 85-61.
The Spartans shot .560 from the floor over the final 20 minutes and made 14-of-25 shots. The Cougars connected on 15-of-35 from the floor in the second half.
Missouri Baptist will look to bounce back on Saturday at William Woods. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 pm.
