In a battle of NAIA Top 25 ranked teams, the Spring Arbor University Cougars (#25) were able to control the action against the Cougars of the University of St. Francis (#22) to earn a 80-68 victory, their second consecutive in Mid Central Conference play and push their record to 7-2 overall and 2-0 in MCC loop play.
SAU led wire to wire in the contest and stretched their lead to as many as 13 on a Chris Bellamy bucket with 10:16 remaining in the opening stanza. Bellamy finished the game with seven points, two boards and two assists to his credit. Spring Arbor cruised into the halftime break up 42-35, having shot a sizzling 67% from the field and holding a potent USF offense who had been averaging 88 points per game to just 35 points. SAU rode a 10 point performance by senior Richard Blair in the opening period while USF was led by DeJovaun Sawyer-Davis who finished the first half with 11 points.
Spring Arbor started the second half much as they left off in the first. Junior DJ Baisden was fouled heading to the rim, sank a pair of free throws and then picked up a loose ball after a blocked shot by senior Rob Boss and raced up the floor to find Aaron List who converted on a bucket in the lane to stretch the lead to 11 at 46-35.
SAU continued to flex their muscles and notched their largest lead of the game at the 15:26 mark when junior Willie Pickvett picked an offensive rebound off a Boss miss and scored the put-back to stretch the advantage to 16 at 54-38.
St. Francis was able to trim the lead to six points at the 6:18 mark on a bucket by Sawyer-Davis. However, back to back buckets by Baisden and Blair pushed the SAU advantage back to 10 (67-57) at the 4:51 mark, and the Cougar's defense was able to clamp down from there, maintaining the double digit lead for a majority of the remainder of the contest .
Blair led a quartet of SAU players who finished in double digits. The 6'1 Pellston, Michigan product finished the game with an impressive stat line that included 20 points five boards and three assists. Blair was 6 for 8 from the floor and 8 for 10 from the charity stripe.
Baisden finished with 17 points, four rebounds and three assists while Boss and Jared List chipped in with 12 points apiece. Boss had a team high six rebounds.
USF was led by Sawyer-Davis who finished with 29 points and was a perfect 13 for 13 from the line. No other USF player scored in double digits.
Spring Arbor is currently atop the conference standings at 2-0 and is back in action on Saturday when they welcome Taylor University to campus for another important MCC tilt. The game is scheduled to tip off at 3 p.m.
