Columbia, Mo. – The No. 22-ranked Columbia College men's basketball team could not overcome a hot-shooting second half by Missouri Baptist University, falling 79-62 on Wednesday at the Arena of Southwell Complex in a match-up of unbeaten teams.
 
Columbia held a 40-30 advantage at the half, but Missouri Baptist connected on 11-straight shots to start the second period and outscored the Cougars 49-22 over the final 20 minutes.
 
Caleb Jones paced Columbia with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting, while Johnny Anderson added 14 and AJ Walker chipped in 10. The Cougars shot a season-low 37.9 percent (22-58) from the field, including just 24.1 percent (7-29) in the second half, and went 12-of-23 from the free-throw line.
 
Missouri Baptist improved to 4-0 with the win, while Columbia dropped to 5-1. Wednesday's contest marked the 89th meeting all-time between the two programs.
 
Columbia built an early 11-4 lead as Jones started hot, going 3-for-3 from the field for six points. Missouri Baptist responded with a 9-2 run to even the score at 13-13, but Columbia regained control behind back-to-back threes from Walker and another triple by Anderson to make it 22-17 with 9:53 left in the first half.
 
Jace Eskew's three-pointer capped a 6-0 run as the Cougars extended their lead to 34-26, and Anderson's layup pushed it to double digits at 38-28.
 
Columbia carried a 40-30 advantage into halftime after shooting 51.7 percent (15-of-29) from the field, including 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. Jones led the way with 12 points, while Walker added 10.
 
Missouri Baptist opened the second half on a 16-4 run to take a 46-45 lead, holding the Cougars to just one field goal over the first eight minutes.
 
The Spartans caught fire, knocking down 11 straight shots as the margin grew to 63-52 with 8:43 remaining. In total, Mo Bap connected on 14 of its first 16 attempts to start the half.
 
Columbia trimmed the deficit to six (63-57) on a layup by Max Rieger with 7:58 remaining, but the Spartans responded with nine unanswered points to put the game out of reach.
 
Javaris Moye (18 points), Drew Kegerreis (17), Preston Fortner (16) and Merquiche Lewis (10) all scored in double figures for Missouri Baptist, which shot 63.0 percent (17-of-27) from the field in the second half, including 5-of-8 from three-point range.
 
The Cougars return to action at Park University on Saturday, November 15 at 3 p.m.
 
NOTES: Columbia leads the all-time series 55-34.