ST. LOUIS – [Box Score] For the entire 40 minutes of play, the Missouri Baptist men's basketball team held a lead, as the Spartans soundly defeated St. Louis College of Pharmacy, 78-53. The victory snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Spartans.
Missouri Baptist (5-21, 4-15 AMC) played 12 players in the contest and nine tallied points for the Spartans. MBU shot .414 in the game, making 29-of-70 from the field and 8-of-20 from three-point range. The Spartans added 12-of-18 from the free throw line and won the rebounding battle, 45-41.
Senior guard Adrian Kuyinu used all 30 minutes of clock time to provide workhorse numbers. He led MBU with 26 points on 8-of-14 from the field and 2-of-3 from three point range. He added 8-of-10 from the free throw line and tallied six rebounds. Kuyinu also added two assists.
Sophomore Chris Buzzell made 9-of-17 from the floor and 2-of-5 from deep territory for a 22-point night. He added three rebounds, two assists, and three steals in 31 minutes of play.
Junior forward Bryce Weibrecht led the Spartans with a career-high 12 rebounds, including three on the offensive glass.
Freshman Jake Terry netted 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and 2-of-2 from three point range.
Sophomore Stanley Eboh got things rolling for the Spartans, when he hit a layup nearly two minutes into the contest. The Spartans never allowed the Eutectics to get into rhythm, as MBU extended the lead to 14-4 with under 10 minutes remaining in the half.
STLCOP trailed 21-14 with 4:51 left in the half, but Missouri Baptist outscored the Eutectics 12-4 the remainder of the half to take a 33-18 lead into the break.
Weibrecht was the vacuum over the first 20 minutes, as he tallied 11 rebounds. Kuyinu led all scorers with 10 points, as the Spartans shot .316 on 12-of-38 from the floor.
Over the first 10 minutes of the second half, the Eutectics stayed within striking distance, outscoring MBU 20-14. That cut the MBU lead to single digits for the first time since the 3:50 mark of the first half.
From that moment on, the Spartans dominated. Over the next five minutes, MBU used a 17-6 run to extend the lead to 64-44.
When the final horn sounded, the Spartans had the largest lead of the night at 25 points, as MBU won the contest, 78-53.
Missouri Baptist will close-out the regular season with three straight home games. The Spartans host Park on Thursday, before hosting a ranked Columbia Cougars squad. The regular season finale features a contest against William Woods on Senior Day.
