ST. LOUIS—Missouri Baptist Men's Basketball returned from a 23-day break to knock off Columbia College (6-3, 0-1 AMC) 67-51 on Thursday night. The Spartans, who were also playing on their home floor for the first time since November 3, are now 5-4 overall and more importantly 1-0 in conference play.
 
Rust was evident from both sides in the early going of the first half. It took the Spartans nearly 10 minutes to reach double digits on the scoreboard. Thankfully, the defense was locked in from the start. Columbia had a 15-9 lead when the MBU offense finally started to come around.
 
Tyrell Andrews provided the spark with back-to-back buckets. Junior point guard Jadis White knocked down a three to tie the game at 25 and the Spartans didn't look back from that time on. MBU scored the last eight points of the half to lead 30-25 at the break.
 
The petal stayed down in the second half as the offense really started to roll. Mo. Bap shot 55% (15-27) in the final 20 minutes. Andrews and senior center River Reed could hardly miss from the field. The pair combined to go 12-15 on the night.
 
A 12-0 run midway through the second half essentially put the game out of reach for the Spartans. After Columbia made it 41-36 with 13:28 to go, the Cougars managed just three points in the next seven minutes. Save for an uncontested layup at the buzzer, the Spartans nearly held CC under 50 points (the Cougars came in averaging 79 ppg).
 
Tyrell Andrews' 16 points led the way for Missouri Baptist. The junior also had four steals, four rebounds, and three assists to complete a full stat line.
 
River Reed was a perfect 4-4 from the field for 11 points. Reed also blocked three shots and pulled down six defensive rebounds.
 
Jadis White narrowly missed a career-high finishing with 13 points but the former Chaminade standout did set a new standard with six rebounds. The Spartans' leading assists man added four to his season total.
 
The Spartan defense locked down a high-powered CC attack, tying a season-high with 12 steals. The Cougars' leading scorer, junior Tony Burks (averaging 21.6 ppg), was held to just six points on 2-8 from the field.
 
After a long hiatus in December, the game action will now come hard and fast in the next month and a half for the MBU. The Spartans continue a stretch of five games in nine days on Saturday afternoon at home against Lyon College. Tip time is scheduled for 3 pm.