ST. LOUIS – Missouri Baptist University men's basketball enters an important final week of the regular season with Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament seeding on the line.
The Spartans are tied with Central Methodist University for fourth place in the conference's
Points Rating System (PRS) and play them in a road contest on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. They then play Park University, who sits 12
th in the conference, on the road on Saturday to conclude the regular season.
Both games can be streamed on the
Urban Edge Network with live stats links found on
MBUSpartans.com or the Missouri Baptist Spartans mobile app.
MBU heads into the week with a 17-9 overall record and 11-7 in the Heart. They are coming off massive home wins last week that have propelled them to fourth in the PRS. They defeated Missouri Valley College on Wednesday night, 82-64, behind 18 points from
Austin Lewis and 15 points from
Merquiche Lewis. They followed up with a Senior Day upset over No. 25 Graceland University on 32 combined points from
Javaris Moye and
Merquiche Lewis, and a stellar performance from the
Heart Defensive Player of the Week,
Preston Fortner, who had seven rebounds, one block, and one steal.
Moye continues to lead the Heart in total steals with 61, followed closely by Fortner in fourth with 46.
Austin Lewis leads the conference in blocks with 42, followed by
Isaiah Dixon in fourth with 33. Moye also leads the team in scoring with 16.7 points per game (PPG), and Dixon is the team's leading rebounder at 5.5 rebounds per game (RPG).
Wednesday night's matchup with the Eagles is the more important of the two for the Spartans, as they go head-to-head with the team they are tied with for fourth in the PRS, with an opportunity to earn six points in the standings. CMU had a three-game winning streak snapped on Saturday with a 77-70 home loss to Grand View University.
The Pirates currently sit 12
th in the conference PRS with 2.69 points. They are 10-16 overall and 7-11 in conference play while riding a two-game losing streak. Last week, they lost at Grand View University 71-64 on Wednesday night and at Baker University 88-87.
About the PRS System
The Point Rating System (PRS) evaluates conference game results throughout the regular season, with points awarded based on opponent winning percentage and game location. PRS standings are updated following each regular night of conference play.
At the conclusion of the regular season, the eight teams with the highest PRS will qualify for the Heart Men's Basketball Postseason Tournament. In the event of a tie in PRS, the conference's established tiebreaker procedures will be applied.
The Heart's regular-season conference champion — and automatic bid to the NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship — will continue to be determined by the overall conference record.
A full breakdown of the Point Rating System and postseason procedures can be found here.
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