Mustangs' Season Ends In AMC Tournament Final

Erik Holth, CBC Sports Information Director

            Columbia, Mo. – Playing in their fourth American Midwest Conference tournament final, Central Baptist College men's basketball, the #3 seed, took on the #1 seeded Cougars of Columbia College tonight at the Arena at Southwell Complex. CBC (21-10) started slow, fought back in the second half but came up just short losing to CC (23-8) 62-53.

            Jalen Adams led the Mustangs in scoring with 12 points while Brevin Brimble and TaJuan Johnson both added 10. The keys in the game were field goal shooting and rebounding, and CBC was outshot 43 percent to 37 percent from the field and outrebounded 35-27.

GAME FLOW

            The Mustangs opened the game on a 9-2 run over the first 4:26, but then went cold, as Columbia went on a 12-2 run to put CBC in a 14-11 hole with 11:25 left in the half. CBC would cut the deficit to one on the next possession, but Columbia closed the half from there on a 20-8 run and CBC trailed 34-21 at the break.

            Columbia hit a three to open the second half and give them their largest lead of the game at 37-21 before CBC started to fight back. Back-to-back threes from Brimble and Gabe Johnson reduced the deficit to 10 and a layup from Johnson dropped the deficit back to eight. Another Gabe Johnson three made the deficit five and Brimble would make a layup off a turnover to put CBC down 37-34 with 14:45 left. Columbia pushed their lead back to six twice and then seven before a layup by James Moore and an old fashioned three-point play from TaJuan Johnson made it 46-44 CC with 8:27 left. Another layup by Moore tied the game at 46 with 7:29 left and it looked like CBC had the momentum. After the teams traded baskets to remain tied, CBC got their penultimate field goal of the game at the 4:18 mark to cut the deficit to one, 51-50. The Mustangs wouldn't score again for four minutes until a TaJuan Johnson three made it 59-53 with 18 seconds left before the Cougars salted the game away at the free throw line.

            CBC finishes the season 21-10, their fifth 20 season since 2016-17. Congratulations to Coach Kohnke and the team on a fantastic year!