ST. LOUIS— [
BOX SCORE] No. 8 Missouri Baptist men's basketball improved to 11-0 after an 85-64 home victory over Webster University (NCAA DIII) on Tuesday night. The Spartans trailed at halftime but doubled up the Gorloks in the second half to stay unbeaten.
Just a few hours after it was announced that the program achieved its first ever Top 10 national ranking, the Spartans tipped off against the Gorloks for their first meeting since 2000. Neither side could find much separation in the early going.
Webster briefly led by seven late before the Spartans closed it to four on a three-pointer from
Hasaan DeCarolis. MBU would eventually go into the break trailing 39-34. The Gorloks made 6-9 (66.7%) from behind the arc in the opening 20 minutes.
That red-hot shooting would regress slightly in the second half and the Spartans took advantage. MBU turned its defense up a level and held WU to a 31.3% clip. Meanwhile at the offensive end, the home side flipped the script and made 9-13 from three-point range in the final 20 minutes.
The Spartans outscored Webster 51-25 in the second half and rolled to a comfortable 85-64 victory, their fourth consecutive win by more than 20 points.
After going 0-1 from deep in the first half,
Kai Woodfall was the catalyst for the offense in the second half. Woodfall drained 5-6 from outside and finished the night 9-11 overall for a new career-high 29 points. The Australian previously scored 27 in a game for Southwest Baptist University last season.
Not to be outdone,
Jesus Castillo made 6-8 from three for the best shooting night of his career. The sophomore finished with 18 points, also a new career-high. Castillo pulled down eight rebounds and added three assists as well.
Jahmouri Robinson led the way in the assists category with 10.
Pablo Hernandez (16) and
Callum Barker (12) were the other Spartans to reach double figures.
Torrance Littles kept pace with the NAIA's leaders in blocks. The senior swatted three more shots to maintain his average of 2.4 blocks per game. Littles also led the Spartans with nine rebounds.
Missouri Baptist is now 11-0 overall-- one of just three teams in Division I NAIA with 10+ wins and no losses. They'll look to continue their winning ways on Thursday in Little Rock, Ark against Philander-Smith College. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 pm. The Spartans return to conference action on Saturday against No. 18 Central Baptist College (8-0, 3-0 AMC) at 3 pm.
