ST. LOUIS—Missouri Baptist Men's Basketball earned its 10
th victory of the season on Thursday night with a 72-61 triumph over Williams Baptist inside the Petty SRC. MBU improved to 6-3 in the American Midwest Conference.
Williams Baptist entered Thursday with an overall record of just 4-7 but the Eagles proved difficult to deal with in the first half. After several lead changes in the first 13 minutes, the Spartans used a 16-6 run to take their largest lead at 34-24. They would go into the break ahead 34-28.
Despite playing small for most of the opening 20 minutes, the Spartans still outrebounded the Eagles 19-18 in the first half. Junior
John Yaeger pulled down a team-high five boards and added 10 points.
Williams Baptist refused to go away in the second half and they briefly grabbed the lead from the Spartans (48-47) with 9:24 left. It took one more good run from the home side to pull away. Once again it was Yaeger who ignited a 12-2 stretch by grabbing an offensive board, converting the put-back, and drawing the defensive foul.
The 12-2 run made it a 10-point game with 3:59 left. After the Eagles brought it back to single digits, a three
Brendon Hardy at the other end proved to be the dagger. The Spartans were able to land the plane from there for their fourth straight AMC victory.
Hardy's career-high 22 points led the way for Missouri Baptist. The sophomore drained 7-14 from the field and was a perfect 4-4 from the free-throw line.
John Yaeger finished with 12 points and completed his first career double-double with 10 rebounds.
Aumonie Armond led MBU on the boards (11) with a second straight game in double figures.
Gerald Moore was another a key contributor in 21+ minutes with eight points and seven rebounds.
The Spartans (10-5, 6-3 AMC) will now complete the three-game week with a difficult test on Saturday. And they won't be the only team in the building with a winning streak as Freed-Hardeman (10-3, 7-1 AMC) will visit the SRC fresh off their seventh consecutive victory on Thursday night. Tip time is scheduled for 3 pm.
