ST. LOUIS, Mo. – For a while late in the second half of Thursday's pivotal American Midwest Conference game it looked like the Missouri Baptist Spartans might complete an improbable comeback to defeat the Central Baptist College Mustangs. But a scoring drought over the last 2:56 of the contest allowed the Mustangs to escape with a 71-61 victory on the floor of the Carl and Deloris Petty Sports and Recreation Complex on the campus of Missouri Baptist University.
 
Facing a 15-point deficit with under 12 minutes to play, MBU's hopes were fleeting. However, over the next eight minutes the Spartans would chip away at the CBC lead. When Brendon Hardy sank a three-pointer with 4:11 left, the game was tied at 58. The Mustangs would answer with a 4-0 run of their own to regain the lead. Sophomore Brevin McMullen nailed a three with 2:53 left to cut the CBC lead to 62-61. Unfortunately for the Spartans and their fans, that would be the last points scored by MBU. The Mustangs would finish the game on a 9-0 run as the Spartans missed three shots and turned the ball over three times in that span.
 
This was a tight, high-intensity defensive battle throughout. Neither team would have a lead larger than six in the first half as the lead would change hands seven times. Despite shooting 60% (15 of 25) in the first half the Spartans held only a two-point advantage at the break, 35-33. For their part, the Mustangs shot only 38% in the half, but 11 first-half turnovers for MBU lead to nine more shots for CBC in the first half. The Spartans were an efficient three of eight from behind the arc while the Mustangs hit only one of 14 from distance. Junior Mujtaba Alkhaldi continued his recent string of offensive contributions by scoring 10 points in the first half on four of five shooting while playing only seven minutes. Early foul trouble for sophomore Bryce Johnson sent him to the bench and freed up some minutes for Alkhaldi to enter with 11:31 left in the first half. Upon entering the junior from O'Fallon, Mo. would score seven of his team's next 12 points, the last of which gave his team a four-point lead.
 
The Spartans got an early three-pointer from Hardy just 15 seconds into the second half to extend the lead to five at 38-33.  MBU would then experience it's first of two scoring droughts in the second half. MBU would score only two points over the next eight minutes as CBC turned a five point deficit into a 15-point cushion at 55-40 with 11:55 left. An Alkhaldi jumper would then start a furious 18-3 run by the Spartans to tie the game up, but CBC would gather themselves and finish the game on a 13-3 run, including the last nine points.
 
The Spartans took the same number of shots in the second half as the first (25) but were successful on only nine of them (36%). Statistically the biggest discrepancy was the number of free throws for each side, as CBC was 16 of 19, while the Spartans only gained eight trips and were good on seven of them. The Mustangs pressure forced 21 turnovers on the part of MBU and turned that into 26 points.
  
Hardy lead the Spartans in scoring with 22 points. Alkhaldi finished with 19 points on eight of nine shooting as well has going three for four from the free throw line. They were the only two Spartans in double-figures in scoring.
 
The victory by CBC avenges a December 1, 2022, Spartan victory in which Brendon Hardy hit a jumper with 1.1 seconds remaining to win it 60-59 in Conway, Ark.  The loss drops the Spartans to 12-11 overall and 8-3 in the American Midwest Conference. Central Baptist moves to 15-7 on the season and 7-3 in the AMC. The Spartans remain in second place in the conference but now both CBC and MBU are just one game behind league-leading Columbia in the loss column.  CBC travels to Columbia to take on the Cougars on Saturday.
 
Up next for the Spartans is a date with the Williams Baptist Eagles on Saturday. The men's game should get underway around 3:00 p.m.