ST. LOUIS- This past Tuesday (Sept 21) the Spartans delivered an outstanding performance against the College of the Ozarks, clinching a resounding 103-76 victory. This marked the fifth consecutive win for the Spartans.
 
The first twelve minutes of the game, the Spartans found themselves trailing behind the Bobcats by only a basket or two. At most, they were down nine points at five minutes in. 7:25 left in the game, the Spartans started to take the lead. A three-pointer by Kristian Davis marked the start of a 14-point run.   
 
Immediately after, on the Bobcats end, Evan Palmquist brought down a rebound and sent it up the court to Davis for a fastbreak. The St. Louis native had to weave around a man, trying to sink the layup. The ball bounced off the front of the rim, but Palmquist was there to tip it back in.
 
Defense was dialed in, shutting out C of O completely. With six minutes left in the half, Sterling Benjamin absolutely denied the Bobcat player who drove in for a layup, blocking his shot where Palmquist picked up the rebound. The Spartans ended up scoring a total of 17 points off of Bobcat turnovers. MBU ended the half in the lead, 44-13.
 
While the Spartans had the tendency to come out slow in the second half, that was not the case this go around. It was neck and neck for the first few minutes, but MBU slowly started to extend their lead. The Spartans outscored the Bobcats 14-7 in the first five minutes of the half. In that time, the Spartans only missed four out of the 11 shots they took.
 
The Spartans had three back-to-back fast break layups twelve minutes into the half, with Keyyaun Batchman scoring two and Preston Fortner sinking his own. Palmquist was able to score on a fast break as well. Connor Redrow snuck up behind the Bobcat guard and slapped the ball away into the hands of D'Mari Wiltz. Wiltz then fed it up the court to Palmquist who launched himself into the air and finished strong with a dunk. Not even a minute later Wiltz was able snatch away the ball from a Bobcat and took off down the court. Looking up the court Wiltz was able to spot Palmquist heading to the basket where he soared through the air and caught the alley-oop from Wiltz, slamming home his second dunk in a row.
 
Despite the Bobcats going on a short run towards the end of the half cutting down on the Spartans 36 point lead, MBU was able to shut them down and remove all chance they had at making a comeback. With a jump shot by Fortner 50 seconds left in the game, the Spartans hit that 100 point mark. After getting the ball back, MBU was taking it easy on their end and with under 30 seconds, Bastien Page wrapped things up with a three-pointer.
The Spartans ended the game on top, 103- 76. With Fortner's big second half, the junior was the leading scorer of the game for MBU with 22 points. The O'Fallon, Mo. native put up a total of 17 points during the second half, shooting 77.8 percent from the field. Keyyaun Batchman who remained solid all game was just a bucket behind, scoring 20, his second time this season with 20 plus points.
 
MBU will be hitting the road this Saturday (Nov. 25). They will be looking for revenge on Baptist Bible College who defeated them back on Halloween during the Spartans home opener.