ST. LOUIS—Missouri Baptist Men's Basketball (11-5, 7-3 AMC) established itself as one of the contenders in the AMC after an 85-83 win over Freed-Hardeman (10-4, 7-2 AMC) on Saturday afternoon at the Petty SRC. Both teams came in with significant winning streaks but it was the Lions who saw their seven-game unbeaten run come to an end.
 
The Spartans came out of the gate quickly, jumping out to a 20-11 lead after eight minutes. The Lions would counterpunch, however, and it turned out to be quite the uppercut. A 19-4 run over the course of four minutes flipped the script.
 
The Spartans' usual small-ball lineup struggled to contain the Lions' 6-9, 275 lb. center Yuryk Lazard. Playing without leading scorer Konstantin Dotsenko, FHU's gameplan relied heavily on Lazard and the junior from Baton Rouge, La. delivered with 12 points and five rebounds in the opening period.
 
The Lions' dominance in the paint combined with seven made three-pointers helped the visiting side to build a 50-40 halftime lead. The Spartans made just one three in the first half.
 
Four minutes into the second half, Freed had built the lead up to 14 but that's where the momentum turned back to the Spartans. Jahmouri Robinson, held to six points in the first half, ignited an 8-0 run with a drive to the basket and a layup. Mo. Bap converted on each of its next six shots while FHU began to struggle, making just 1-6 in a six-minute stretch.
 
The Spartans continued to chip away and finally retook the lead with 6:45 remaining (74-73). After FHU tied the game from the free-throw line, a deep three from Brendon Hardy gave Missouri Baptist a 77-74 advantage.
 
Freed-Hardeman again tied the game, this time at 79. On the ensuing possession for MBU, a runner from Robinson rimmed out but Aumonie Armond outjumped the bigger Lions' defenders and tipped in the offensive rebound for a crucial go-ahead bucket with 2:36 left.
 
The Spartans would not relinquish the lead in the final two minutes. The Lions had a possession with two seconds and change left to tie or take the lead but ultimately failed to get a shot off.
 
"That was a great win for us," said MBU Head Coach Preston Ingram. "We needed it to show that we are a contender and that we can compete with the top teams in this league. I'm ecstatic for our guys."
 
Offensively, the Spartans' trio of Jahmouri Robinson, Brendon Hardy, and John Yaeger took the game over in the second half. Hardy finished with another new career-high (for the second straight game) of 27 points, 14 of which came in the final 20 minutes. Robinson recovered from a slow first half to score 17 in the second half and finished with 23 total. He also added six assists. Yaeger went 9-11 from the field for 19 points, 10 of which came after halftime.
 
The Spartans played the same five players for all but five seconds in the second half with Yaeger, Aumonie Armond and Christian Backa combining inside to limit first half star Yuryk Lazard to just four points in the second half for FHU.
 
"Aumonie really battled Lazard," noted Ingram. "He gave everything he possibly could and Christian was huge too."
 
Speaking about Backa, Ingram heaped praise on the redshirt freshman from Finland, who played a season-high in minutes.
 
"It's not necessarily what he does in the box score," Ingram said. "It was his presence on the floor being a good size. Tonight he stepped up. He played big tonight. That was his best game of the season and it was pivotal. We really needed him."
 
The Spartans shot 57.6% from the field as a team in the second half compared to just 41.4% for Freed-Hardeman. MBU improved to 10-0 on the season when they score 70 or more points.
 
Now sitting in a tie for third place in the AMC, the Spartans will have a week off before they head to Hannibal (1-12, 0-9 AMC) next Saturday for a 2 pm tip. They'll return home on January 23 to meet No. 18 Central Baptist College (11-3, 8-1 AMC).