BATESVILLE, ARK. – [BOX SCORE] Missouri Baptist men's basketball wrapped up the calendar year with a 62-56 victory over Lyon College (Ark.) on Saturday afternoon. Callum Barker and Jahmouri Robinson combined for 38 points to lead the charge for MBU.
 
The Spartans had been prone to slow starts on the road recently and Saturday proved to be no different. The Lyon Scots scored the first six points of the game before Head Coach Matt Brock called a timeout for Missouri Baptist.
 
They would settle in briefly before Lyon knocked down a string of three-pointers and pushed their lead to 18-9. It was 25-17 when the Spartans finally made their run in the final five minutes of the first half. After a three from Jesus Castillo, Callum Barker scored seven straight points and just like that MBU had its first lead of the day. They would go into halftime with a 31-29 edge.
 
Lyon continued to have no answer for Barker in the second half. The senior put on a clinic in the paint and Missouri Baptist began to build up the lead. Barker would finish the day with a team-high 21 points (9-11 FG) to go along with eight rebounds.
 
MBU led by 10 with just under 10 minutes to go in the second half but the Scots had one more run in them. A 13-2 surge by the home side narrowed the Spartan lead to just one at 49-48 with 5:37 left in the game. Lyon then regained the lead, 52-51, a few minutes later on a layup from senior Eric Moses.
 
Once again, a timeout from Matt Brock would settle the troops. Missouri Baptist scored eight of the game's next nine points, highlighted by a wide open three-pointer from Jahmouri Robinson. The Scots were forced to foul in the final few minutes and the Spartans knocked down 7-8 from the free throw line to salt the game away.
 
Outside of the 21 from Callum Barker, Jahmouri Robinson was MBU's other leading scorer finishing with 17 points. The junior from Cardinal Ritter HS knocked down 4-4 from behind the three-point line. Jesus Castillo registered eight points and led the way on the glass with nine rebounds.
 
The Spartans (15-0, 7-0 AMC) will now head into a lengthy break holding on to first place in the American Midwest Conference. With the heart of the road schedule done for the year, MBU will return from the holidays to play seven out of nine games in January in front of their home crowd. The second semester stretch run gets going on January 3 against Williams Baptist. Tipoff at the Petty SRC is scheduled for 7:30 pm.