Thompson leads Cougars with 21

Thompson nearly matched his age by scoring 21 points, including five 3-pointers, in his first career start for the Cougars (18-5, 3-0 conference).

“I was a little surprised when I saw my name on the board,” Thompson said. “I was a little nervous at first but once I hit my third 3-pointer all the jitters went away.”

Missouri Baptist (16-8, 1-2) brought the conference’s top scorer, but not much else. Guard Sam Estelle, the AMC leader at 18.5 points per game, was the only offensive threat for the Spartans. But when he started to cool off late in the game, all hopes for a comeback went with him.

“We do that all the time,” said Missouri Baptist coach Clyde Wooldridge. “We’re pretty streaky.”

Estelle had a game-high 28 points, but only managed to make six of his 12 free throws.

With three minutes remaining, Estelle had the chance to bring the Spartans within 10 points, but missed five of six free throws in the span of about a minute.

The Cougars, who are one of the smallest teams in the AMC, outrebounded the Spartans 47-33 and had 11 more assists.

“All those things ultimately help you win basketball games,” said Columbia coach Bob Burchard.

Another lineup change Burchard made was inserting Sam Tatiersky into the starting five. The Slovakia native was a force in the middle and led the team with eight boards.

Burchard used an analogy to describe his reasons for the change.

“If you’re playing solitaire, you know how you’re cards are falling after three-fourths of the game,” he said. “After going through the deck a couple of times, the cards weren’t coming up right. This game was all about reshuffling.”

The Cougars, ranked No. 16 in the NAIA Division I poll, redeemed themselves after an embarrassing home loss to Division II foe College of the Ozarks on Monday. Columbia is now 4-3 since the holiday break, but sits atop the conference standings with a 3-0 record.

Forward Lawrence Thomas, the team leader in rebounds at 6.8 a game, continued to play well by grabbing six rebounds to go along with his 13 points.

“We wanted to go out and make a statement tonight,” said Thomas, a 1999 All-AMC selection. “We just need to go out there and do a lot of the things we know how to do right.”

“Coming off the loss (to Ozarks) it was tough to regroup and get back to playing as a team,” said guard Ernie Swan, who scored 14 points on the night. “We just came back this evening and got our focus together and were able to win the game.”

The Cougars play against AMC cellar-dweller Harris-Stowe State College on Saturday in St. Louis but return home to play against McKendree College.

“This was a great win, but we want to get off this roller coaster,” said Burchard, referring to the Cougars inconsistent play. “We have to get something going, make a stand and get back to being a good team.”

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