ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] The No. 5 Columbia Cougars outscored Missouri Baptist by 18 points in the second half to defeat the Spartans 81-70 Saturday night in Lacey Gymnasium and fend off the home team's upset bid.

The Spartans (8-6, 3-3) led by seven at half and by 10 with 18:49 left in the game after Isaiah Cotton completed a three-point play from the foul line. Columbia (14-1, 7-0) shot 63.3 percent from the field in the game's final 20 minutes to avoid the upset.

Pablo Hernandez was the story offensively for the Spartans in the first half. He led all scorers with 16 first-half points on 6-of-7 shooting, including three 3-pointers. The two teams traded baskets for a majority of the back-and-forth half that included three ties and six lead changes.

A Hernandez bucket with 5:39 left in the half gave Missouri Baptist a 28-22 lead, their largest to that point. Columbia fought back to tie the game at 30-all with 2:04 left, until Hernandez once again took over.

The freshman from Spain finished through contact and completed a three-point play to put Missouri Baptist ahead 34-30. As time winded down, he hit a 3-pointer with five seconds remaining to put the Spartans out in front 39-32, a lead they would take into the locker room.

Cotton's aforementioned three-point play gave Missouri Baptist a good start to the second half, but from then on Columbia took over. A steal and bucket from Preston Whitfield completed a 14-4 Columbia run to tie the game at 46-46.

Baskets from Cotton and Jared White gave Missouri Baptist a 50-46 lead with 12:26 remaining, but the Cougars had another run in them. They outscored the Spartans 28-6 over the next eight minutes to lead by 18 with 4:05 left.

After shooting 50 percent in the first half, Columbia held the Spartans to 8-of-29 shooting from the field (27.6 percent) and 1-of-10 from beyond the arc in the final 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Columbia made 63.3 percent of its shots in the second half after hitting just 35.5 percent in the first.

A 3-pointer from Buzzell cut the deficit back to single digits at 75-66 in the final minute, but that's as close as the Spartans would get. Buzzell and White joined Hernandez in double-figures with 14 points each. Hernandez finished with 16, all in the first half.

Whitfield paced Columbia with 16 points off the bench, 14 in the second half. Zach Rockers finished with 14 points.

After back-to-back losses, the Spartans head into a busy week. They play three games in five days, beginning with Hannibal-LaGrange on Tuesday, Jan. 5. Tip from Hannibal is set for 7:30 pm.