SPARTANS DOMINATE PERU STATE TO MOVE TO 6-0
ST. LOUIS—[BOX SCORE] Missouri Baptist Men's Basketball cruised to a 114-89 win over Peru State (Neb.) on Friday night in Columbia, Mo. It was the first of two games the Spartans will play in the Hampton Inn Thanksgiving Classic hosted by Columbia College.
MBU entered Friday's contest at 5-0 but facing an unfamiliar opponent. The Spartans and Bobcats passed the lead back and forth for most of the first half. Missouri Baptist would take the largest advantage of the half after a mini run with around five minutes left. A three from Fitzgerald Hopkins pushed the lead to nine and the Spartans eventually entered the break ahead 50-42. Hopkins and Pablo Hernandez paced the navy and white with 11 points apiece in the first half.
As they've done on multiple occasions already this season, the Spartans found another level in the second half. Peru State was able to cut the deficit to three before a 9-0 run helped MBU pull away for good. A thunderous breakaway dunk from Torrance Littles put the Spartans up 12 and seemed to take the life out of the Bobcats.
Missouri Baptist led by as many as 32 before settling for a 114-89 victory. Fitzgerald Hopkins set a new career high with 29 points (11-16 FG) to lead the Spartans. Johnny Benson (16), Jahmouri Robinson (15), and Pablo Hernandez (14) made it a quartet in double figures for MBU. Benson picked up a double-double with 12 rebounds. 11 different Spartans scored at least once.
As a team, the Spartans dominated the glass, outrebounding Peru State 41-24. They also shot 60% from beyond the arc (12-20) while holding the Bobcats to just 39% from three (11-28).
"I'm proud of our team," Head Coach Matt Brock said afterwards. "We got a lot of contributions from a lot of different guys. Our depth played a huge factor in the second half."
Missouri Baptist is now 6-0 overall. They will look for win number seven on Saturday afternoon against Culver-Stockton. Tipoff in Columbia is scheduled for 1 pm. Live stream will be provided at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/columbia/.
