Box Score ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] A big second half lifted Lindenwood-Belleville over Missouri Baptist 91-83 Saturday afternoon in the AMC Game of the Week.
The Lynx (7-2, 3-1) erased a nine-point halftime deficit behind a hot-shooting half. LU-B shot 54.3 percent in the second half behind strong shooting from Martavian Payne, Chris Deanes and JT Jones. Payne scored 14 of his game-high 25 after halftime.
MBU (4-4, 0-2) shot a respectable 45.2 percent in the second half, but were unable to keep up with the road team. Will Harrington led the way with 22 points, while Jared White added 15. David Gabrovsek (14) and Chris Buzzell (10) also finished in double-figures.
Harrington and Gabrovsek each scored 12 in a strong first half from MBU. The Lynx however, had an answer for every MBU run. MBU led 25-17 with 8:16 left after a Jahmouri Robinson jumper to take its largest lead of the game to that point. LU-B cut the deficit to one on multiple occasions to prevent MBU from pulling away. However, the Spartans did just that right before halftime when they caught fire and ended the half on a 10-2 run. Gabrovsek scored six points during the spurt to help MBU take a 45-36 halftime lead.
David Shepherd scored the first points of the half on a 3-pointer to shrink the deficit to six and set the tone for half number two. The road team continued to chip into the Spartan lead and eventually tied it at 62-62 with 13:12 remaining. A Payne 3-pointer gave Belleville its second lead at 65-64 with 12:19 to go and they wouldn't trail again.
A bucket from Johnny Benson cut the deficit to four with 4:41 to go, but the Spartans couldn't get any closer. The hot-shooting of Lindenwood-Belleville continued down the stretch and they carried that to the nine-point win.
The Spartans will look to rebound on Monday on the road at St. Ambrose. Tip is set for 7:30 pm. MBU's next home game is Thursday, December 8th against Morthland at 7:00 pm.
