OSKALOOSA, IOWA – MBU Men's Basketball used 66 second half point to lap Mount Mercy University (Iowa) 101-90 on Friday night. The Spartans turned a nine-point halftime deficit into a convincing victory by shooting the lights out from three-point range down the stretch.
 
In the first of two games this weekend in the William Penn Classic, Mount Mercy was the faster starting team as the Spartans tried to find their legs early. The Mustangs held a 10-point advantage after five minutes (16-6). MBU briefly trimmed it down to four but eventually went into halftime trailing 44-35.
 
Whatever Head Coach Preston Ingram said in the locker room at halftime though, he may want store away and use again in the future. The Spartans came out of the intermission on a rampage.
 
It started with back to back threes from Brendon Hardy to make the score 48-43. Then Daishaun Woods hit a step-back triple on the next possession. The Spartans scored 13 points in just under two minutes to take the lead and the lid was officially off the basket.
 
The score went back and forth for several minutes before Naod Rezene took over for MBU. The junior hit from the beyond the arc on three straight possessions to give the Spartans the lead for good. After hitting his fourth three of the half a few possessions later, the Mustangs fouled Rezene on his next attempt from deep. He would drain three more from the charity stripe. That gave Missouri Baptist a commanding 10-point lead (81-71) and took the wind out of the sails of Mount Mercy.
 
The Spartans had plenty more scoring to do over the last five minutes. Daishaun Woods would cap off the night with a two-handed jam in the final seconds to put Mo Bap over the century mark. It was first time the Spartans have reached 100 points in the Preston Ingram era.
 
Rezene finished the night with a career-high 22 points, 17 of which came after halftime. Brendon Hardy was equally as hot with all 15 of his points coming in the final 20 minutes. Hardy and Rezene combined to go 8-9 from 3PT range in the second half.
 
While the two juniors were lighting it up from deep, seniors River Reed and John Yaeger had the scoring covered from inside. Each finished with 18 points. Reed was 9-11 while Yaeger was 7-8. Reed also double-doubled with 11 rebounds.
All the scoring was made possible by the point guard play of Jadis White who dished out 12 assists, the most by a Spartan since all-time assists leader Jahmouri Robinson recorded 10 in a game in December of 2018.
 
As a team the Spartans shot nearly 68% from the field (40-73). Despite only pulling down 22 rebounds, they still doubled up the Mustangs on the glass.
 
Now sitting at 3-1 overall, MBU will face its toughest test yet on Saturday. They'll match up with the tournament hosts, the No. 4 team in the NAIA Preseason Coaches' Poll, William Penn University. Tip time is scheduled for 4 pm.