ST. LOUIS- Men's Basketball extends their win streak to four in their last game against St. Ambrose University on Nov 15. This was the third game in a row where they defeated their opponent by 20 plus points.
The Spartans were setting the pace in the first half, with
Connor Redrow kicking things off with a three-pointer not even a minute into the game. The Dallas, Texas native followed it up by drawing a foul on the Spartans next possession and added another two points at the free throw line.
Down on the defensive end the Spartans weren't making it easy for the Fighting Bees. MBU kept driving down St. Ambrose's shot clock, forcing them to find quick shots with only a few seconds left. The Spartans were putting on the pressure keeping them to a 20.6 field goal percentage. The Spartans only gave up 10 points in the first 10 minutes of the game.
The Spartans were unrelenting when defending their man. Fifteen minutes in
Nick Wasilewski and Even Palmquist were staying tight to their men and were able to force a turnover. With the Fighting Bees collecting a total of 10 turnovers, the Spartans were able to take advantage and score a total of 10 points off of them. At a little under 10 minutes, Palmquist was up the court, preventing the SAU fastbreak and was able to steal the ball away and feed it up the court to
Breven McMullen. McMullen was able to sink the layup on the MBU fastbreak.
The Spartans were able to keep SAU to under twenty points in the half. Looking at the numbers, the Spartans and the Fighting Bees weren't that far off from each other. SAU had a total of 34 field goal attempts, 12 of those were three-pointers. The Bees made only seven field goals and zero three pointers. MBU on the other side had 39 field goal attempts with 16 of those being threes. The difference is that the Spartans were putting the ball in the net, sinking 18 field goals with six of those being three-pointers.
The second half did not start off as hot for MBU with the team missing the first couple shots.
D'Mari Wiltz put up the Spartans first points of the half a minute and a half in, sinking a jumper after pulling a spin move to get around his man.
It was a lot of back and forth in the first half, with both teams putting up an equal number of points in the first eight minutes of the half. Shortly after, SAU started to go on a scoring streak, putting up nine points in a row, five of those coming from free throws. Fouls were mostly one sided with the Spartans having eight with only nine minutes left in the game while SAU had only one.
With eight minutes left, McMullen finally put an end to the Fighting Bees scoring streak. After receiving the ball from Wiltz at the three-point line, the Park Hills, Mo. native wove around his man to the center of the paint for a layup. Less than a minute later, McMullen drained a three in the corner to bring the Spartans back up to a 19-point lead.
The Spartans went on a run with three minutes left in the half.
Kristian Davis kicked it off by sinking a pair of free throws after being fouled.
Preston Fortner followed this up with a pair of good free throws himself. Shortly after the O'Fallon, Mo. native added another three-pointer to the board.
Nick Wasilewski rounded out the scoring streak for the Spartans. The sophomore made a shot fake and drove in and around his man to sink a layup in some traffic.
Despite the Spartans having twice as many fouls, thirteen of those in the second half sending the Fighting Bees to the line for bonus free throws, MBU was able to maintain control of the ball game. The Spartans came out on top, 84-55. Palmquist was the leading scorer for the Spartans this go around, putting up a total of 14 points. Fortner was just behind the sophomore, scoring 13.
The Spartans will be wrapping their three-game home stint on Nov. 21 with a double header against College of the Ozarks where both men's and women's teams will be competing
