ST. LOUIS— [BOX SCORE] No. 5 Missouri Baptist men's basketball tied the program record for consecutive wins with a 78-55 rout of AMC opponent Williams Baptist University (Ark.) on Thursday night. After nearly three weeks without game action, the Spartans showed no signs of rust and equaled the streak set by the 1993-94 team.
 
24 hours after once again achieving the program's highest ever NAIA ranking, MBU started fast and the shorthanded Eagles' squad struggled to keep up. An early 9-0 run gave the home side a six point (11-5) lead and one they wouldn't look back on.  
 
The Spartans saw a size advantage in the paint and abused it to the tune of 24 first half points in the paint, 23 of which came from forwards Pablo Hernandez and Callum Barker. As a team, they shot 56% to WBU's 26% and took a commanding 46-25 lead into the locker room.
 
The MBU defense continued to puzzle its opponent after the break. Nearly six minutes had passed in the half before Williams Baptist recorded their second field goal. While the Spartan offense also cooled off in the second frame, the damage had already been done. An alley-oop from Jahmouri Robinson to Barker with 7:47 left put a bow on another convincing victory for the Spartans.
 
Barker would finish with 17 points (7-7 FG) to lead Missouri Baptist. The senior also posted seven rebounds. Pablo Hernandez tacked on 12 points. The Spaniard recorded nine rebounds and likely would have achieved his second double-double of the season had he not checked out for the final time with 8:26 left in the second half.
 
A trio of other Spartans finished with nine points, led by junior Jahmouri Robinson. Robinson added five assists and in doing so, passed MBU Hall of Famer Travis Brown for 10^th in program history with 269. Kai Woodfall and Jesus Castillo were the others to reach nine points. Castillo tacked on six rebounds and four assists.
 
The win moved MBU to 8-0 in the American Midwest Conference and strengthened their hold of first place. The Spartans will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when they welcome Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) to the Petty SRC. Tip is scheduled for 3 pm.