SPARTANS FALL TO SEMO IN EXHIBITION ACTION
ST. LOUIS—[BOX SCORE] Missouri Baptist Men's Basketball traveled to Cape Girardeau, Mo. on Friday night for an exhibition contest with Southeast Missouri State University.
Seemingly unphased by the bright lights of a Division I arena, the Spartans started fast. Threes from Johnny Benson and Jesus Castillo helped the navy and white build an 8-2 lead after three minutes. The Redhawks responded with a 12-3 run to right the ship.
SEMO led by as many as 11 and took a 37-27 lead into halftime. Fitzgerald Hopkins led MBU in the first half with five points as eight of 11 Spartans found their way onto the stat sheet. Denzel Mahoney posted 12 first half points (3-6 FG) to lead the Redhawks. The sophomore would finish the game with a team-leading 21 (including a perfect 11-11 from the free throw line.)
Southeast continued to push the pace after the break. They slowly began to pull away, outscoring the Spartans 15-7 through the first eight minutes of the second half. MBU continued to battle and had several chances to cut the deficit to single digits. The Redhawk defense was solid when it needed to be, however, thwarted any momentum the Spartans managed to build. The home side held serve by a final score of 81-69.
Jahmouri Robinson topped the final stat sheet for the Spartans. The sophomore posted 14 points (7-9 FG), 10 of which came in the second half. Andrew Howard and Fitzgerald Hopkins both finished with nine points. Howard pulled down seven rebounds as well.
Both sides finished the game with identical 50% field goal percentages. The difference may have been from the free throw line as Southeast went 19-21 (90.5%) while MBU made just 13-23 (56.5%).
"Playing a strong opponent like SEMO, in that kind of atmosphere prepares us for some upcoming AMC battles," mentioned MBU Head Coach Matt Brock after the game.
The Spartans will resume regular season action on Monday at home. They'll welcome Evangel University to the Petty SRC at 7:30 pm.
