ST. LOUIS—[BOX SCORE] No. 17 Missouri Baptist Men's Basketball made a late comeback attempt but fell short in a 72-69 defeat to Harris-Stowe on Saturday.
After dropping the first contest with the Hornets in overtime back in early December, the Spartans started fast this time around. They led by seven early on after knocking down their first three attempts from beyond the arc.
The Hornets would recover, however, and the game took a rough turn for the Spartans with around five minutes left in the first half. A 16-3 run by Harris-Stowe over the course of just three minutes gave the visitors a 38-25 lead. MBU would eventually go into halftime down by 10 at 40-30.
Harris-Stowe continued to frustrate the Spartan offense after the break. The Hornets combined tough defense with some timely three-pointers to build a 17-point advantage at the 10 minute mark. The Spartans haven't gone down easy in any game this season, however, and that wouldn't change on this day. They chipped away and narrowed the deficit to just three at 69-66 with one minute to play. They had a chance to tie the game but the Hornet defense tightened when it had to and forced a shot clock violation with 22 seconds left. The Hornets then made their free throws at the other end to seal the victory.
Jahmouri Robinson led the way for MBU with 15 points. Johnny Benson and Fitzgerald Hopkins each had 12. Andrew Howard pulled down seven rebounds and added one block. Torrance Littles posted three blocks on the day to bring the team total to four. The Spartans have 104 team blocks on the season and are now just seven away from tying the MBU single-season record set by the 2011-12 team.
Deandre Clark led the stat sheet for Harris-Stowe with 16 points on 6-10 from the field. K'Ja Johnson added 14 while Christian Wimbley (12) and Nate Rigmaiden (11) also reached double figures for the visitors.
The Spartans are now 18-4 on the season and 10-4 in the AMC. They'll be back in action next Thursday in Batesville, Ark. against Lyon College. Tip is scheduled for 7:30 pm.
