BATESVILLE, Ark. – [BOX SCORE] Chris Buzzell and Pablo Hernandez combined to score 34 points to lead Missouri Baptist over Lyon College 62-51 Thursday night and help the Spartans improve to 2-1 in conference play.

The Spartans (7-4, 2-1) have now won four consecutive games, while Lyon (2-6, 0-4) dropped its sixth straight game with the loss.

After a back-and-forth opening 13 minutes, a Hernandez 3-pointer gave the Spartans a 21-19 lead with 7:05 left in the first half and Missouri Baptist never trailed again. Lyon kept things close throughout, but couldn't notch its first conference win.

That basket from Hernandez sparked a 16-4 Missouri Baptist run to end the first half. Hernandez and Buzzell accounted for 13 of those 16 points to help the Spartans turn a deficit into a double-digit lead.

The duo were the only Spartans to reach double-figures. Buzzell finished with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting and Hernandez dropped in 16 thanks to a season-high three 3-pointers.

Missouri Baptist shot 57.9 percent from the field and led 34-23 at the break after trailing by as many as five in the opening half.

The hot shooting cooled off in the second half, allowing the Scots to get back in the game. Missouri Baptist shot just 31.6 percent in the final 20 minutes on 6-of-19 shooting and saw its lead shrink to a single point with 9:30 left in the game.

Nearly seven minutes had passed before Buzzell gave the Spartans their first field goal of the second half with 13:26 to go. By that point the lead had shrunk to six at 40-34. A David Gabrovsek two extended the lead back to eight, but Lyon responded with a 7-0 run to shrink the deficit to one.

Once again, Buzzell and Hernandez helped dig the Spartans out of a hole. They scored eight straight points on three possessions to stretch a one-point advantage to nine at 54-45 with 3:58 left, thanks to two Hernandez 3-pointers. The Scots wouldn't get within six points the rest of the way.

Strong free-throw shooting once again helped secure the victory. Missouri Baptist hit all eight of its free throws in the final two minutes and shot 75 percent from the charity stripe overall.

Will Harrington grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds and also led the team in assists with six. Joe Burt led the Scots with 17 points on 5-of-12 shooting. The Spartans limited Lyon to 34 percent shooting overall and 21.4 percent from 3-point range.

Missouri Baptist will look for its fifth straight win on Saturday against AMC opponent Central Baptist. Tip is set for 4:30 pm.