WALNUT RIDGE, ARK. – [BOX SCORE] (3) Missouri Baptist men's basketball hit a bump in the road on Thursday night in a 75-67 road defeat to Williams Baptist University. The Eagles rallied from a five-point halftime deficit to deal the Spartans their second loss of the season.
 
Fueled by a rowdy home crowd, the underdog WBU hung tough in the first half. Neither team led by more than four until Kai Woodfall drained a three with 6:33 left in the opening half to make it 29-23 MBU. Mo. Bap maintained that advantage before heading into halftime ahead 39-32.
 
The Spartans looked to be in control, leading by nine with eight minutes left in the second half, but the Eagles were about to make their big push. A 7-0 run cut the lead to two and they tied it at 63-63 with 2:52 to go.
 
After a turnover by the Spartans, WBU's Brayden Brewer hit a huge three with two minutes left. MBU couldn't answer on back to back three attempts of their own and the Eagles were then able to salt the game away at the free throw line.
 
Woodfall led the Spartans with 22 points (6-12 3PT). He and fellow senior Pablo Hernandez (17) were the only two to reach double figures for MBU.
 
Missouri Baptist is now 25-2 overall and 17-2 in the AMC. The Spartans have already clinched at least a share of the AMC Regular Season title, meaning home court advantage in the postseason tournament and a berth in the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City. They'll head to Henderson, Tenn. to battle Freed-Hardeman on Saturday at 3 pm.