PANAMA CITY, Fla. – The Missouri Baptist Spartans trip south got off to a rocky start on Monday afternoon. Taking on No. 21-ranked Florida College at the Battle at the Beach, the Spartans were able to get close on a few occasions but could never completely close the gap. MBU fell by a score of 79-71 in Panama City, Fla.
 
The Spartans opened the scoring with a basket by Bryce Johnson just 55 seconds into the game for the Spartans only lead of the game. The Eagles would go on an 8-0 run and they Spartans would never get closer than four for the rest of the day. That is not to say MBU didn't make it interesting at times. 
 
The Eagles led by as many as 18 in the first half, largely due to their prowess from behind the three-point line, or a lack of that same success for MBU. Florida College was five of 10 from behind the arc in the first half and seemed to get a timely basket any time the Spartans would begin to cut into the lead. For their sake the Spartans were one of nine from behind the arc in the first half.  At the 9:54 mark of the opening half, the Spartans only trailed by four. However, the Eagles would go on a 13-2 run over the next 4:40 to seemingly take control of the game. Florida College led 43-30 at the break.
 
For the majority of the second half it looked like it would be much of the same. The lead swelled to 19 with 11:06 left and it appeared the only item left to be determined was the final score.  But the Spartans had other plans. Trailing 66-48 with 9:48 left the play, the MBU would go on a 16-3 run over the next 7 minutes to get back within five points.  After a basketball by the Eagles, senior Brendon Hardy knocked down a 3-pointer to get MBU within four with 2:22 left.  That is as close as the Spartans would get though, as the shots stopped falling and Florida College hit their free throws in the last two minutes to secure the eight-point victory.
 
One of the bright spots for the Spartans was the resurgent play of junior Mujtaba Alkhaldi. Alkhaldi rejoined the team less than a week ago and has steadily increased his playing time and contributions on both ends of the floor since then. He played 14 minutes in this game and set a new career-high in scoring with 14 points. Another positive was the return of sophomore Bruno Araujo from a foot injury. He played nine minutes and had two points and had four rebounds as well as a steal. The Spartans were led in scoring by Hardy, who had 20 points and five rebounds. Also in double-figures in scoring were Bryce Johnson with 11 points and Tyrell Andrews with 10. Senior forward Daishaun Woods once again started. He played 21 minutes and led the Spartans with six rebounds.
 
Florida College was lead by Drew Kramer with 18 points.  He was one of three Eagles in double-figures in scoring.
 
As a team the Spartans shot a woeful three of 18 from behind the three-point arc. They shot 43% overall and tied the Eagles with each team turning the ball over 14 times.
 
This was the first ever meeting between these two programs. The loss drops the Spartans to 5-4 on the season.
 
Next up is a date with the defending national champions, the Wolfpack of Loyola (La.) University, tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 p.m.  It is the second of three games that MBU will play in the Battle at the Beach in Panama City.  They will finish out the trip against ninth-ranked Faulkner University on Wednesday.