Box Score ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] The Missouri Baptist men's basketball turnaround season came to an end Wednesday night after the team's 85-71 loss to William Woods in front of a capacity crowd in R. Alton Lacey Gymnasium.
The Spartans (19-12, 14-8) finished the season with 19 wins- the most since the '05-'06 season. Overall, MBU saw a 13-win increase from a season ago to help the team finish fourth in the conference after an 11th place finish last season.
However, the Owls (19-12, 14-8) gave the Spartans an AMC Quarterfinal exit with the road win behind Brian DeGeare's 19 points and 11 rebounds. William Woods limited MBU to 38.1 percent shooting and forced 22 Spartan turnovers.
The opening first 15 minutes between the two schools were predictably back-and-forth. Both team's came in with an identical conference record and split the two regular season meetings.
Neither team led by more than five points until Keith Jackson splashed home a 3-pointer for William Woods with 5:33 left in the half to give the road team a 35-29 advantage. A mini 3-0 run cut the deficit in half, but Woods made a charge toward the end of the half to lead 47-39 at the break.
MBU committed 11 first-half turnovers, while forcing only three. A bright spot was, freshman Pablo Hernandez who finished with 12 points in the opening 20 minutes. Despite trailing by eight, it felt like MBU was just one run from getting right back into it.
That run started at the 15:05 mark after Kevin House knocked in two free throws to extend the Owls lead to 56-46. Jared White then led a 10-0 Missouri Baptist run to tie the game at 56-all with 10:59 left in the game. White scored six points during the spurt, the last being two free throws to tie things up.
The final free throw brought the loud capacity crowd in R. Alton Lacey Gymnasium to its feet. The Owls quickly silenced the noise, answering with a 12-0 run to cut the game open. Jackson started it with a bucket down low and MBU never could recover. After 11 points in his last three games, the Owls forward broke out for 13 in the quarterfinal.
The Spartans did get the deficit down to 70-65 after a Hernandez bucket with 3:26 left, but once again the Owls had an answer. DeGeare drew a foul on the ensuing possession and hit both free throws to extend their lead to seven. The deficit remained at seven after a triple from David Gabrovsek with 1:55 to go, but House followed with the dagger- a 3-pointer on the other end to send William Woods into the semifinals.
Will Harrington finished with a team-high 17 points and five assists for MBU. Hernandez added 14 and White finished with 13. Senior John Caraballo grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds in his final collegiate game.
Playing in their final collegiate game included the follwing six seniors: Caraballo, Stephen Buckner, Isaiah Cotton, Cody Hudson, James King and Michael Asleson.
First-year head coach Matt Brock, along with assistants Jared Goodwin and Pat Sodemann helped generate buzz around the Spartan basketball program that had been missing in past years. The staff did it with nine newcomers to the roster and have things looking extremely bright for the 2016-2017 season.
Asleson, Gabrovsek, Hernandez, Harrington, Chris Buzzell and Luke Call were all honored before the game for earning AMC All-Academic Honors.
