ST. LOUIS—[BOX SCORE] Missouri Baptist Men's Basketball continued an impressive early season run with a 69-52 victory over No. 17 Park in Parkville on Thursday night. The Spartans went into the half tied at 26 but Fitzgerald Hopkins took over in the second half. The senior scored 18 of his team-high 23 points after the intermission. 

The lead seesawed back and forth in the first half, with the Pirates briefly claiming the largest advantage at 11-7. After seven lead changes and 23 combined turnovers between both sides, the teams eventually went into the break deadlocked.

In the second half, the Spartans took control, thanks in large part to their guard play. Fitzgerald Hopkins made 5-7 from three while Jahmouri Robinson went 5-9 from the field for all 12 of his points on the night. MBU used an 11-0 run over to break the game wide open with just over 13 minutes left.

Park climbed back into it, cutting the lead to four, but the Spartans once again put their foot down. This time it was an 8-0 run that took the will out of the No. 17 ranked team in the country. The final was 69-52 as Missouri Baptist improved to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in AMC play.

Hopkins led the way on the night with 23 points and four assists. The Spartans dominated the glass most of the night, outrebounding Park 41-34. Zach Beel and Pablo Hernandez both pulled down six boards for the navy and white. Andrew Howard posted five rebounds while also keeping 6-11 Pirate big man Mason Stuteville in check (4-11 FG).

The win snaps a long drought for Missouri Baptist against Park. MBU last knocked off the Pirates on February 23, 2012, (a 66-65 victory in Parkville), a stretch of 11 games.  

The Spartans will return home on Saturday to continue conference play against St. Louis College of Pharmacy. Tip is scheduled for 3 pm at the Carl and Deloris Petty SRC.