ST. LOUIS – [Box Score] In a thrilling 45 minutes of basketball, the Missouri Baptist men's basketball squad defeated William Woods in overtime, 80-68. The Spartans outscored the Owls 16-4 in the extra period.
Missouri Baptist (6-23, 5-17 AMC) honored senior Adrian Kuyinu during a pre-game Senior Day ceremony, and did not disappoint on the court. The Spartans shot .449 from the floor, connecting on 31-of-69 shots from the field. MBU added 5-of-17 from deep range, and sank 13-of-25 from the free throw line. The Spartans shot just .364 in the first 20 minutes, but rebounded by making 19-of-36 shots from the floor in the second half and overtime.
William Woods (11-19, 8-14 AMC) shot .403 from the floor, but limited to 14-of-38 from the floor in the second half and overtime. The Owls made just 3-of-13 from three-point territory, and 15-of-27 from the charity stripe.
Missouri Baptist dominated the glass, out-rebounding the Owls, 49-38, including 15 in the offensive zone.
Junior guard Stephen Buckner led MBU with 21 points in the contest. He sank 9-of-18 from the floor, 1-of-4 from deep range, and 2-of-2 from the free throw line. He added six rebounds, with four in the offensive zone. Buckner dished-out five assists and swiped four steals in nearly 40 minutes of action.
Senior Adrian Kuyinu netted 17 points on 5-of-17 from the floor, and 7-of-9 from the charity stripe. He pulled down eight rebounds in 34 minutes of play.
Sophomore Stanley Eboh led the Spartans with 10 rebounds. He added nine points on 4-of-8 from the floor.
The first half of play set the tone for the night, as both teams held a small four point lead during the course of the 20 minutes.
Freshman forward Josh Davis earned his first start of his career and did not disappoint. He scored the first bucket of the contest and later tied the game at 4-4. The Owls scored the next four points to take an 8-4 lead with 16:06 left in the half, but the Spartans quickly tied the game at 8-8 when Kuyinu scored four consecutive points.
Missouri Baptist took its four-point lead with 8:45 left in the frame when Stanley Eboh scooped-in a layup to give the Spartans a 20-16 advantage.
Less than four minutes later, the Owls took a 23-20 lead, but MBU used a 4-0 to retake the lead at 24-20. William Woods sprinted down the court and took a 25-24 lead, but freshman Jake Terry drained a deep three-ball to give the Spartans a 27-25 lead with 2:34 left in the half.
Stephen Buckner scored the last bucket of the half for MBU with only 31 seconds left to give the Spartans a 29-27 lead, but the Owls sank 1-of-2 free throws with four seconds left. As the final seconds of the half ended, Missouri Baptist led the Owls, 29-28.
Over the first ten minutes of the second half, William Woods held a 48-43 lead, but the Spartans stormed back. Bryce Weibrecht sank a three pointer and Buckner kissed a shot off the glass to tie the game at 48-48 with 9:30 left in the game.
The Owls eventually took the largest lead of the game by either team at 58-52 with 4:44 left in the game, but the Spartans had been in the same spot the previous two contests.
In the final minute, Missouri Baptist began the comeback. Kuyinu hit a shot after Buckner ripped the ball away, which cut the deficit to 62-59 with 48 seconds left.
The back-and-forth battle began, as the Spartans sent the Owls to the free throw line. After WWU made 1-of-2, Buckner sank a layup to cut the deficit to 63-61 with only 39 seconds left. The Owls once again made just 1-of-2 from the free throw line, which set up a game-changing next possession for the Spartans.
With the shot clock off, the Spartans looked for the perfect shot. Weibrecht dribbled the ball at the top of the key and looked for a teammate. He could not find anyone open, pump-faked a shot, and then fired a long three-ball. The ball hit nothing but net, which tied the game at 64-64.
After MBU called a timeout to set-up the defense, the Spartans forced William Woods to take an off-balance shot, and the game headed to overtime.
Missouri Baptist scored the first nine points of the overtime period and held a 73-64 lead with just 1:53 left in the extra frame. Stanley Eboh scored six points during the run to pace MBU.
The big run by the Spartans erased any chance at a comeback by the Owls and Missouri Baptist ran the clock down to zeroes with an 80-68 victory.
MBU will travel to Benedictine-Springfield on Tuesday for the first round of the American Midwest Conference tournament. Tipoff is set for 7:00 pm.
