ST. LOUIS – Bouncing back from a pair of opening weekend losses, the (RV) Missouri Baptist University men's basketball team picked up its first win in the home opener, defeating St. Ambrose University, 74-62. The Spartans played brilliantly at times and led by as much as 32 in the second half but had to hold off a late push by the Fighting Bees.
With Saturday's win at the Carl and Deloris Petty Sports & Recreation Complex, the Spartans improved to 22-2 in home games over the past two seasons.
MBU's first shining moment came right out of the gate. The Spartans answered St. Ambrose's opening basket with a 19-2 run fueled by five triples – two apiece for
Brendon Hardy and
Bryce Johnson and one for
Tyrell Andrews. Then, withstanding a four-minute drought, (RV) Missouri Baptist widened the gap with a separate 12-0 run to extend the lead to 35-14.
The Spartans entered halftime with a sizable 45-22 lead, shooting 45.2% from the floor, 43.8% from 3-point range, and 76.9% from the free-throw line (10-of-13). It was much bleaker for the Fighting Bees, who were limited to 8-of-35 shooting (.229) and scoreless from beyond the arc.
Another quick start was in store as the Spartans opened the second half on an 8-0 run. Hardy led it off with the first five points and was followed up by a pair of steals and back-to-back buckets in transition including a White to Johnson alley oop. Less than two minutes in, MBU bumped the margin to 32 points (54-22), representing the game's biggest lead.
The Fighting Bees slowly began to chip away at MBU's large lead. With 10 minutes left in the half, SAU brought it within 20. And with a 13-2 run to end the game, the Fighting Bees went from a potential blowout to a respectable 12-point loss.
Despite gutting out the win on Saturday afternoon, the second-half struggles didn't go unnoticed. After shooting particularly well in the first half, Missouri Baptist went cold, finishing the second half with a 2-for-14 clip (.143) from three and 1-of-6 clip from the charity stripe.
On the other hand, St. Ambrose broke out of its funk and outscored the Spartans 40-29 after the break. Playing a big part in SAU's second-half surge were 32 points off the bench for the Fighting Bees.
Senior guard
Brendon Hardy did some heavy lifting for the Spartans finishing with a game-high 22 points along with
Bryce Johnson, who finished with a double-double of 14 points, 10 rebounds.
Jadis White was not too far off from a double-double recording nine points and nine assists to go along with a game-high four steals.
(RV) Missouri Baptist will begin a three-game road swing on Tuesday trekking to Point Lookout, Mo. to face College of the Ozarks. On Friday and Saturday, the Spartans will be in Peru, Neb. for the second straight year to take part in the Heart of America/American Midwest Conference Classic where they'll meet Grand View University and host Peru State College.
