ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] Missouri Baptist clinched a spot in the upcoming American Midwest Conference Tournament with a dominant 107-68 road win over Williams Baptist Thursday night.

The Spartans (16-13, 10-11) knew they controlled their own destiny at tipoff of tonight's game. With a win, they'd lock up a top eight spot in the conference and a trip to the AMC tournament. They wasted no time taking control in their 107-point outburst.

MBU never trailed in the entire game and shot a blistering 58.8 percent in the first half. Williams Baptist (10-17, 6-15 AMC) appeared to have suffered a slight hangover after its thrilling win over No. 3 Columbia on Saturday. Led by 14 first-half points from Luke Call, the Spartans took full advantage. They put forth a complete game and dominated from start to finish. 

The navy and white raced out to a 30-13 lead in the opening 10 minutes after a 3-pointer from Call and a free-throw by James McKelvin. The sophomore Call finished with a team-high 18 points thanks to five 3-pointers. He was a perfect 4-for-4 from distance in the first half.

Williams Baptist cut the lead to single digits, 32-24, with just over five minutes left, but Call again came to the rescue. He hit a 3-pointer to get the lead back over 10 points and sparked an 18-5 MBU run to end the half. Two free throws from Jared White got MBU halfway to 100 by halftime where they led 50-29.

An early second-half bucket from Johnny Benson extended the Spartan lead to 21 and MBU would keep its advantage above that margin the rest of the way. The Spartans shot 54.3 percent overall as a team, while limiting the Eagles to 39.1 percent shooting and forcing 16 turnovers. 

10 Spartans had at least seven points in the game. White (11 points). Benson (11 points) and Pablo Hernandez (10 points) joined Call in double-figures. Jahmouri Robinson and Chris Buzzell each added nine and Andrew Howard and David Gabrovsek had eight apiece.

Freshmen James McKelvin and Hasaan DeCarolis recorded seven points each and McKelvin added seven rebounds. MBU won the rebounding battle 48-31. EJ Rucker led Williams Baptist with 15 points.

The win was the Spartans first in Walnut Ridge since February 2013. MBU will try and close the regular season with a victory on Saturday against Freed-Hardeman. Tip is set for 3:00 pm. As it stands, MoBap is the No. 8 seed. They could move up to No. 7 with a win and a Lyon loss to Harris-Stowe.