Box Score ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] The Spartans held off a second-half rally from Harris-Stowe to takedown the Hornets 92-76 Saturday afternoon from R. Alton Lacey Gymnasium, behind Jared White's team-high 18 points.
Stephen Buckner also added 17 off the bench and Pablo Hernandez pitched in 15. Missouri Baptist (18-10, 13-7) shot 58.8 percent in the first half to jump out to a fast start. They scored the first six points of the game and led by as many as 12 in the opening half.
Hernandez tallied five points and Luke Call added a triple to spark an 8-0 Spartan run to up the MBU lead to 20-9 with 12 minutes remaining. The Hornets answered with seven straight points to cut the deficit to four, but that's as close as they would get for quite some time.
The Hornets (13-15, 9-11) kept the game in single digits for a majority of the half until the trio of White, Buckner and Hernandez led a late MBU charge right before halftime. White's bucket with 1:35 put the lead back to 10 at 45-35. Jalen Fletcher answered with a basket as well, but then Buckner hit a huge 3-pointer to extend the lead to 11. HSSU once again answered on the other end, but Hernandez also hit a three to give MBU the 51-39 lead at the break. Hernandez led all scorers at the break with 13 points.
Buzzell came off a screen and swished a jumper to help the Spartans strike first in half number two. However, Missouri Baptist's 14-point lead quickly evaporated due to Harris-Stowe's hot-shooting to begin the half. The Hornets went 9-of-13 from the field out of the gate with Craig Davila Jr. and Jalen Fletcher leading the charge.
Davila Jr. put back a miss with 12:41 left in the game to tie the game at 59-59. Despite the Hornets rally, MBU kept its composure and never surrendered its lead. White attacked on the other end and hit two free throws to give the Spartans the lead back and Harris-Stowe wouldn't get any closer.
The lead dwindled down to three on three separate occasions, including after a free throw from Julian Clarkson with 4:54 left. However, the Spartans had an answer every time the Hornets got close to taking a lead. After the Clarkson free throw that brought the score to 73-70, MBU ended the game on a 23-6 run.
Buckner started the strong finish with a 3-pointer to extend the lead to six with 5:01 left. The senior came up huge all game with Will Harrington battling foul trouble throughout. Buckner's 17 points were his most since MBU's last game against Harris-Stowe on Jan. 9th.
Isaiah Cotton also came up big down the stretch and dunked off a Buckner-feed with 2:24 to go to give the Spartans an 82-72 lead. MBU would hit its free throws in the final minutes to eventually escape with the big conference win.
The Spartans return to action on Thursday to face Williams Baptist in a big matchup at home. Tip is set for 7:30 pm.
