Columbia, Mo. – Tonight the sixth ranked Columbia College men's basketball team was back in action when they played host to the Missouri Baptist University Spartans in the AMC Quarterfinals. The Cougars, who had swept the regular season series against the Spartans, were unable to defeat Missouri Baptist as they were beaten by a final score of 78-73. With the loss, Columbia College falls to 26-5 on the season.

Prior to the game, the AMC announced its Academic All-Conference Awards for the 2016-17 season. In order to be eligible for the award, student athletes must be in their second semester at their AMC institution and have at least a 3.0 GPA. Five Cougars were honored with the award including Nathan Biggs, Jesse Brown, Jackson Dubinski, Lucky Ogbomo, and Nic Reynolds. In addition to the Academic All-Conference recipients, Malik Ray was named to the AMC Champions of Character Team.

The Cougars came out in the first half of the game and were knocking down their shots early. They started the game making four of their first five shots, including back-to-back three pointers from Nic Reynolds, to jump out to an early 10-5 lead over the Spartans. However, Missouri Baptist was able to settle into their offense as the half progressed and answered with a 13-4 run of their own to take an 18-14 lead midway through the period. The Cougars did their best to get back into the game before halftime and ended the period on a 6-0 run but still found themselves trailing 38-36 at the halftime break. Columbia College was led by Nic Reynolds who finished with 14 points in the half.

The Cougars came out of the halftime break and were moving the ball well on the offensive end of the floor. Despite being able to score the ball, Columbia College struggled to stop the Spartans on defense and the Cougars found themselves trailing 56-49 with 10 minutes remaining in the game. Columbia College was able to cut the Spartans lead down to three with six minutes left in the contest but an 11-0 run from Missouri Baptist late in the half propelled them to a 14 point lead. The Cougars did their best to get back into the game and were able to cut the Spartans lead down to three with just under a minute to play in the game. However, Missouri Baptist converted on their free throw attempts down the final stretch of the contest and handed Columbia their third loss in four games.

The Cougars were led by Nic Reynolds who finished with a game high 24 points in the contest. In addition to Reynolds, Jackson Dubinski added 13 points, six assists, and five rebounds to round out the top performers for Columbia.

Despite dropping this game to the Spartans, the Cougars have qualified for the NAIA National Championships held in Kansas City, Missouri, from March 15^th-21^st. They will find out who they will face in the first round of the National Championships on Wednesday, March 8^th at 6 p.m. during a live selection show.