ST. LOUIS— [
BOX SCORE] No. 8 Missouri Baptist men's basketball continued its best start in program history with an 85-60 victory over Missouri Valley College (4-7) on Tuesday night. A packed house at the Carl and Deloris Petty SRC watched the Spartans race out to a substantial first half lead and cruise home to improve to 14-0.
After trailing at halftime in all three wins last week, the Spartans were not in the mood to let the visiting Vikings hang around in this one. They scored 11 of the game's first 13 points and never led by less than seven from that point forward. The NAIA's second ranked scoring defense held Missouri Valley to a 26.7% field goal percentage in the opening frame.
Meanwhile, the MBU offense was firing at a blazing 60% (21-35).
Pablo Hernandez (12) and
Kai Woodfall (11) each found double figures in the first half as the Spartans went into the locker room leading 52-27.
They would keep their foot on the gas in the second half and any opportunity the Vikings had to gain momentum was thwarted. A six-point run by the Spartans at about the midway point of the half pushed the lead to 30 (64-34). They would empty the bench after that and stroll to the finish line with a 25-point victory.
Pablo Hernandez continued to lead the way and finished the night with 16 points (7-8 FG). The senior is now just 49 points away from 1,000 for his career. The Ames, Spain native also posted three assists and four rebounds.
Three other Spartans also finished in double figures, paced by
Jahmouri Robinson with 14.
Jesus Castillo posted 12 points (4-7 3PT FG) while
Kai Woodfall added 11. Though he didn't have his best shooting night, Woodfall found another way to contribute, dishing out a career-high six assists.
Missouri Baptist dominated the post all night, finishing with a 42-26 advantage on points in the paint. The rebound battle was also not a fair fight. 6'9"
Callum Barker and 6'8"
Torrance Littles had their way against the undersized Vikings' lineup. Barker settled for a game-high 11 rebounds while Littles pulled down five boards and blocked four shots. Littles continues to close in on the MBU career blocks record. The senior has 70 now for his career, just 12 short of tying Brandon Scott's mark set from 1995-96.
The AMC-leading Spartans will now return to conference action on Saturday in Batesville, Ark. against Lyon College (5-3, 2-1 AMC). Tipoff for the final game of the calendar year is scheduled for 3 pm.
