PERU, Neb. – MBU Men's Basketball fell 68-62 to Peru State (3-5) on Saturday in day two action at the Heart/AMC Classic. The Spartans, now 5-3 overall, will look toward three exhibition games next week against NCAA DI and DII opponents.
 
In Friday's win over No. 24 Benedictine, the Spartans endured an early scoring slump of just over eight minutes. History repeated itself on Saturday against Peru State after MBU scored the game's first five points and then went cold from the field.
 
Defense was once again the saving grace as a Tyrell Andrews bucket at 11:51 snapped the drought with the Spartans trailing just 11-7. The low-scoring, back-and-forth first half finished 31-28 in favor of the home Bobcats.
 
Peru State's lead was cut to two points on two separate occasions in the second half but that was as close as Missouri Baptist could get. The Spartans made a push with a 12-1 run that made the score 58-56 with 3:06 left before the Bobcats hit a back-breaking three-pointer.
 
For the third time in four games, RJ Pair finished as the Spartans' leading scorer (17). Brendon Hardy was 3-4 from 3PT and 5-10 from the field for 13 points.
 
The Spartans will head to Cape Girardeau on Monday for an exhibition against Southeast Missouri State. Tipoff is set for 7 pm and the game can be streamed on ESPN+.
 
Next weekend, they'll travel to San Angelo, Texas for exhibition matchups with Angelo State and Texas A&M Kingsville. Both teams are NCAA DII.