ST. LOUIS – Sometimes a single play can make all the difference in a basketball game, even if it doesn't happen late in a game. Such was the case Tuesday night at the Carl and Deloris Petty SRC at Missouri Baptist University. Despite their best efforts, the conference-leading Spartans were having a hard time convincing the Hannibal-LaGrange University Trojans, the team sitting in ninth place in the conference, that they should make this an easy victory for the home squad. But then it happened. The Dunk.
 
Leading only by five (46-41) with 16:02 remaining, the Spartans were forced late into a possession by some stellar Trojan defense and had to call a timeout with a single second remaining on the 30-second shot clock. Head Coach Preston Ingram drew it up and the team carried it out. The screen set by Daishaun Woods, the curl around the paint by Tyrell Andrews, the perfect inbounds lob from Jadis White, and the two-handed alley oop dunk by Andrews. Executed to perfection, in under a second. The jam would give the Spartans a seven-point lead at 48-41, but it seemed to symbolize so much more. The Spartans were about to find their stride. From that moment forward, the Spartans outscored HLGU 19-4 over the next five minutes and 41-11 for the remainder of game, as MBU won it 87-52.
 
The game started as one might expect of the top and bottom teams in the American Midwest Conference. For the second game in a row MBU was on fire from the field early in building a 13-4 lead just over four minutes into the game. But a funny thing happened on the way to the cruise-control victory.  The Trojans refused to cooperate. They went on a 11-0 run over the 3:37 to claim their first and only lead of the game at 15-13. Spartans junior Nico Hill would break the drought with a three-pointer to reclaim the lead for MBU but the first half was tight with the Spartans never again having a lead larger than eight. Despite shooting 53% from the field in the first half, MBU led only 40-37 at the break. The deficit might have been much larger had it not been for the shooting prowess of the Trojans' Janssen Flotoe. He had 18 first-half points with the majority of them coming on four for four shooting from behind the three-point arc.
 
The teams traded baskets early in the second half until the Andrews dunk that seemed to change everything…on both ends of the court. It produced a turning point in the game. Using the energy that that play provided, the Spartans began to play fast on both ends of the court, and the Trojans weren't able to match the renewed pace. The Trojans shot 45% on 14 of 31 shooting in the first half, but only managed six field goals in the second half while shooting 23%.
 
This is the second game in a row the Spartans have shot better than 50% from the field and shot even better in the second half than they did in the first. They were 18-34 (52.9%) in the first half and 20 of 33 (60.6%) in the second.  MBU outrebounded the Trojans 39 to 30. Maybe more impressively they had 19 assists on 38 field goals in the game, meaning the Spartans were generous in sharing the basketball.
 
Andrews led the Spartans in scoring with 17 points. Brendon Hardy finished with 15 and Breven McMullen had his second consecutive game in double figures with 10 points.  Eleven players took to the floor for MBU, and all 11 scored. After his breakout first half, Flotow was held to only three points in the second half for the Trojans and finished with 21 points to lead all scorers. Jacob Staton chipped in with 10 points for HLGU.
 
The win keeps the Spartans atop the standings in the AMC with a 6-1 conference record. They also got back over .500 overall at 10-9.
 
Next up for the Spartans is a trip down Highway 40 on Thursday night to take on Harris-Stowe State University. The men's game should tip around 7:30.