St. Louis - The Spartans were back at home for the first time since January 16th. They were up against Harris-Stowe State University, looking to build up their momentum from their win earlier this week against UHSP.
 
MBU asserted their position early into the game. A quick ten-point run starting only a minute into the half put the Spartans on top. Breven McMullen opened up the scoring with a deep three out on the wing. Next, Connor Redrow put up what was soon to be one of many dunks for MBU. The junior received the ball at the free-throw line and drove in to the block through traffic to bring down his first dunk of the game. On MBU's next possession, Redrow handed the ball off to Nico Hill who knocked down a three-pointer. Keyyaun Batchman wrapped up the Spartans' scoring run with a layup 40 seconds later. The St. Louis native pump-faked out in the corner and, taking advantage of the Hornet flying by him, drove into the block to put up two points.
 
HSSU is a physical team that likes to apply a lot of pressure to their man. For a moment, it looked like that pressure was getting to the Spartans as the Hornets tied up the game six minutes in. It was a close one for the next seven minutes, but MBU powered through and eventually took control of the game. A couple of big three-pointers from Evan Palmquist and a jump shot by D'Mari Wiltz put them back on top by eight points. The Spartans ended the half on top 47-30.
 
On top of Redrow's early dunk, the Spartans brought down four others. Redrow added another to his tally after Wiltz dumped him the ball down on the block. Mujtaba Alkhaldi jammed one through the hoop after Palmquist drew the defenders his way, leaving Alkhaldi wide open. Palmquist scored a dunk of his own after getting his hands on a pass and taking the ball coast to coast to slam it home. Nick Wasilewski wrapped things up, solidifying the Spartans' authority by sneaking past his defender to receive the ball down in the block and slamming down a dunk. This would put the Spartans up by a solid 17 points to end the half.
 
The second half was all about taking care of business. MBU continued to rack up the points, never dropping below an 18-point lead. The Spartans really sped things up, scoring ten points off of fastbreaks in the second half alone. Batchman, Palmquist, Davis, and Hill all used their speed to get a jump on the Hornets to go in and score. Redrow managed to put up his third dunk of the game four minutes in after being fed the ball by Palmquist down on the block.
 
Overall, it was a solid game for the Spartans. MBU had a big first half and wrapped it up nicely in the second. The Spartans closed out the game with an 81-59 victory over HSSU. Evan Palmquist was the leading scorer for the Spartans, putting up 20 points in the game, his first time doing so all season. Nico Hill had a solid game with 14 points and led the team on the boards with seven rebounds. Kristian Davis had a big second half to propel himself into double digits with 11 points.
 
MBU will be back on the road once again, taking a short trip down to Hannibal to take on HLGU this Saturday, Feb 17.