Spartans overwhelm Eutectics in the paint in MBU win

ST. LOUIS, MO - Breven McMullen scored 21 points and Keyyaun Batchman added 19 as the Missouri Baptist Spartans ran their consecutive game winning streak over the UHSP Eutectics to 29-straight with a  115-83 win in their second American Midwest Conference contest between the two this year.

The first half started well for the Eutectics as Dwight Newsome twice tied the game early. A layup off a Spartan triple tied things at eight and a three-ball off an offensive rebound knotted things at 11 with six minutes gone by. Missouri Baptist would get some easy buckets inside as part of a 9-0 run thanks to a pair of layups from Mujtaba Alkhaldi and a dunk from Nico Hill as the Spartans took a 20-11 lead. Ahian Barnett ended the run with a layup for UHSP, but MBU kept the pressure on and built a 34-19 advantage with 6:37 left in the half. The Eutectics managed used a Braylon Rios three to make it a 36-24 game and cut the deficit to a dozen, but MBU went on another 8-1 surge to widen the lead to 44-25. Missouri Baptist would lead 53-33 at the break.

In the second half, the Eutectics would get no closer than 20 as the Spartans continued to pour it on. MoBap extended the advantage to a 30-point margin with 15:11 left when Courtland Soll's layup put the Spartans up 75-44. The lead ballooned to 40 with 3:49 remaining when Bastien Page hit a layup to put the visitors up 110-69.

The Spartans dominated in the lane scoring 68 points in the paint to UHSP's 38. A number of those buckets came in transition as 19 UHSP turnovers led directly to 32 MoBap points. The Eutectics did shoot it well from perimeter going 10-for-21 (47.6%) while MoBap was 8-of-25 (32%). But a 40-22 rebound advantage for MBU allowed them 13 more field goal attempts than the Purple and Gold while they also made 13 more field goals. Missouri Baptist shot 58.1% to 49.2% for UHSP.

Landon Engelage led the way for UHSP scoring 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting while Dwight Newsome and Moctar Keita each added 14. Braylon Rios had 11 points off the bench. Mujtaba Alkhaldi came off the Missouri Baptist bench to add 14 points, Courtland Soll had 13 and Evan Palmquist and Nico Hill each had 12 as MBU had six players in double figures.

The Eutectics (1-22, 0-11) have three more AMC games left in their regular season with their next two coming away from home. They play Thursday at Central Baptist followed by a contest at Williams Baptist on Saturday. UHSP finishes out the 2023-24 campaign at home on Feb. 24 when the Trojans of Hannibal-LaGrange come to St. Louis.