St. Louis, Mo. – This afternoon the fifth ranked Columbia College men's basketball team was back in action when they traveled to St. Louis, Missouri, to take on Missouri Baptist University in an AMC matchup. The Cougars defeated the Spartans by a final score of 70-68 and improved to 24-2 on the season and 17-1 in conference play. With the loss, Missouri Baptist drops to 14-12 on the season.

The Cougars came out in the first half and were firing on all cylinders as they opened the game going 5-5 from the field which helped them jump out to an early 12-4 lead. However, the Spartans battled back quickly and were able to answer the Cougars run with a 9-3 run of their own to take an 18-15 lead midway through the half. Both teams exchanged points over the next few minutes but with the game tied at 27 the Spartans closed the half on a 10-5 run and took a 37-32 lead into the halftime break. Columbia College was led by Nathan Biggs who had 10 points in the half.

The Cougars opened the second half like they did in the first half and went on a 18-3 run in the first six minutes of the period to take a 50-40 lead in the game. They continued to push the tempo on the Spartans and held a nine point lead with just over three minutes remaining in the second half. Missouri Baptist fought back hard in the contest and cut the Cougars lead down to two with 45 seconds remaining in the game, but Columbia was able to knock down their free throws down the final stretch and edged out the Spartans for their fourth straight win.

The Cougars had three players finish in double figures including Malik Ray who had 17 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. In addition to Ray, Jackson Dubinski dropped in 14 points and Nathan Biggs finished with 13 points to round out the top performers for Columbia.

The Cougars are back in action on Thursday, February 16^th when they host 22^nd ranked Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) University in an AMC matchup. Columbia College defeated the Lions in their last matchup by a final score of 79-63 in a game that Jackson Dubinski led all scorers with 22 points. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. in the Southwell Athletic Complex.