No. 6 Columbia College, shooting only 39 percent and going scoreless for more than four minutes late in the game, had enough composure to squeak by turnover-prone Missouri Baptist 83-79 last night.

The Cougars (21-2, 5-0 American Midwest Conference) took sole possession of the conference lead, scoring 23 points off 19 turnovers by the Spartans (16-8, 4-1).

"With this team we always find a way to win," said Jerrod Thompson, who finished with a game-high 33 points, just two shy of his career-high. "We can always find a way to do what we need to do to win. Just buckle down."

With 13 lead changes and seven ties in the second half, the Cougars didn’t pull away until they made six consecutive free throws in the last 1:09.

Missouri Baptist’s shooting guard Antonio "Tiny Mo" Mason answered each Cougar rally with one of his five 3-pointers. With the Cougars holding a seven-point lead in the final minute, Mason hit a pair of 3-pointers to make the score 82-79 with 28 seconds to go.

After Thompson mishandled an inbounds pass from Sean Dooley, Mason had one more stab to become the hero. But the Oklahoma City native’s 3-point attempt against a double team with 10 seconds left hit the front end of the rim.

Dooley sank one of two free throws to seal the game with six seconds left.

"It was a good hard game, one you hate to lose," said Mason, who finished with 19 points. "We tried to weather the storm at their place but in the end they wanted it more than we did."

The crowd brought out the best from a couple of Cougar guards. High school teams from Mexico and Hickman attended the game and cheered for their alums - Thompson and Derek Broadus, respectively. Broadus played solid at the back-up point, scoring five points and sinking two free throws late in the game.

"Next time I’m inviting everyone out from Mexico and Hickman, too," Cougar coach Bob Burchard said.

The coach said he was pleased to see Thompson fully recovered from a stress fracture of the right foot last month.

"I didn’t know he had that level of game in him," Burchard said. "He is truly a special player. He’s always been a great shooter, but he has turned into a very good basketball player and he showed that by doing a lot of things for our team tonight."

Thompson broke the full-court pressure with ease and displayed a little swagger while doing it, smiling each time Mason tried to steal the ball from him. At one point in the second half Thompson nearly broke Mason’s ankles by going to his right and taking the ball behind his back the other way, leaving Mason on the ground.

"People have tried to press us all year," Thompson said. "But it just takes a few seconds off the shot clock. We were able to distribute the ball, so it was no problem at all."

The Cougars host conference rival No. 23 McKendree tomorrow in a rematch of a thrilling 68-65 Columbia win at Lebanon, Ill., two weeks ago.

"That’s our MU-KU game," said Burchard of the rivalry. "Hopefully we can match the intensity of that game."