ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] A hot-shooting second half lifted Freed-Hardeman past Missouri Baptist 87-68 Saturday afternoon. The Lions extended a one-point halftime lead after shooting 53.3 percent (16-for-30) after halftime.

The Spartans (16-14, 10-12) fell despite a big offensive output from senior Will Harrington (16 points). Luke Call also pieced together another nice offensive game and finished with 14. Austin Dempsey and Grant Teichmann led FHU with 15 points.

Harrington and Call combined for eight 3-pointers, six of those coming in the first half. Call hit four in the opening half, one in which MBU led by as many as eight. MBU led 20-12 and 28-20 at the 8:37 mark after Johnny Benson capped an 8-0 run.

The two team's traded leads early on, with Freed making a late push to end the half. After the Benson bucket, the Lions outscored MBU 14-4 over the next seven minutes. A late Call 3-pointer got the Spartans within one point at the break, 39-38.

As previously mentioned, Freed-Hardeman came out shooting on target in the second half. Trevor Randolph extended the lead to four with an early 3-pointer and the Lions maintained the lead for the rest of the game.

MBU's shooting numbers dipped just a percentage in the second half, but they couldn't keep up. A Teichmann three gave the Lions a double-digit lead with 13 minutes remaining and they maintained the 10+ gap the rest of the way.

Benson and Gabrovsek followed with eight points each. Benson also grabbed nine rebounds. The Spartans will be the No. 8 seed in the AMC tournament and face conference champ Columbia in the first round. The Cougars won the season series 2-0, but have lost two of their last three games. That matchup is slated for Thursday night.