COLUMBIA, Mo. – Known more for his ball-handling and assist skills this season, Missouri Baptist University senior point guard
Jadis White couldn't let this big moment pass him by. His three pointer with 1.8 seconds remaining gave the Spartans an unlikely, and heart-pounding, 72-71 victory over the Columbia Cougars on the road at the Southwell Complex on Saturday.
To say the victory was improbable would be an understatement, although finishes such as this are becoming the norm in the Columbia-Missouri Baptist men's basketball rivalry. This is the third consecutive game that has been decided two points or less with the winning basket coming with under two seconds to play.
In a season that has seen its share of thrilling Spartans victories in the final seconds, this one might be at the top of the list. Depending on the results of the rest of the season, it may be talked about for a long time to come. The Spartans trailed by six points with under twenty seconds left, and still found a way to win. When the Cougars' Cole Gerken scored a layup to with 21 seconds left to give Columbia a six-point lead, the outcome was looking bleak for the Spartans. But there was no quit in this team on this day. Off the inbounds MBU rushed the ball down the court and sophomore
Nico Hill got a layup with :16 on the clock to trim the lead to 70-66. The ball was inbounded to Cougars senior Tony Burks who was immediately fouled by
Brendon Hardy with 13 ticks left. Not yet in the double-bonus, Burks missed the front end of a one and one and MBU secured the rebound. Quickly on offense, Hardy drained a deep three pointer with nine seconds remaining to make it a one-point game at 70-69. The Spartans called their final timeout. Coming out of the timeout Hardy again fouled Burks, who is a 78% free throw shooter on the season. Burks hit the first free throw to give the Cougars a two-point cushion but missed the second. Hill rebounded the miss and with no way of stopping the clock got the ball up court to White. Conventional wisdom would say to drive it in to tie the game and play for overtime. White had other ideas. The St. Louis native rose up from 25 feet out and splashed it home to put the Spartans up 72-71 with under two seconds to play. The Cougars had one last opportunity following a time out. Gerken threw a perfect full-court inbounds pass to Burks who drove the baseline but was unable to sink a contested layup. The Spartans had stolen an almost unbelievable win. MBU scored eight points in the final 16 seconds to gain the one-point victory.
MBU never trailed in the entire first half and built a lead as large as 11 points. They led 37-31 at halftime. Columbia took their first lead of the game with 8:34 remaining on a three-point shot from Collin Parker making it 55-53 Columbia.
Bryce Johnson would regain the lead for MBU on a layup with 4:59 left but that lead was short-lived. Burks banked home a layup 25 seconds later to tip the scales back in favor of Columbia. They held that lead until White delivered for the Spartans in the waning moments.
Hill led the Spartans in scoring with 14 points to go along with nine rebounds. Other players in double-figures for MBU were
Bryce Johnson with 12 points, 11 for White and
Tyrell Andrews had 10 points before fouling out with 33 seconds left. The Spartans shot 47% from the field in the game. They were only two of nine from behind the arc in the second half until the final minute heroics by Hardy and White.
For the Cougars, Burks led all scorers with 22 points.
It was another classic finish in a series that has shown a flair for the dramatic of late. Last year in the AMC Tournament Championship game it was
John Yaeger sinking a basket with less than a second left to win the title for the Spartans. Earlier this season it was Burks exacting some revenge with one second remaining to win a game on the Spartans home floor. And tonight, White returned serve.
The win moves the Spartans to 13-12 overall and 9-4 in the AMC. Columbia is now 17-7 and 9-3 in the conference. The MBU victory effectively kept the Cougars from eliminating the Spartans from regular-season conference championship consideration. With the Spartans win, the Cougars remain all alone in first place but are now just one game up in the loss column on MBU and Williams Baptist University.
The Spartans will take the floor again on Tuesday when they travel to Hannibal, Mo. to take on the Trojans of Hannibal-LaGrange University. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m.
