Eagles Defeat Hannibal-LaGrange in AMC Road Contest

HANNIBAL, Mo. (2/10/24) - The Williams Baptist men's basketball team defeated Hannibal-LaGrange 79-63 Saturday in an American Midwest Conference road matchup at the Mabee Sports Complex.

TJ Clardy led the way for the Eagles with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Ben Keton added 16 points on 4-of-6 shooting from beyond-the-arc. Duke Hardin and Cory Sanders finished in double-figures with 11 points each, while Tevin Tate had 10 rebounds to pace WBU on the boards.

WBU trailed 7-3 early in the first half but quickly turned its fortunes around and built its lead to 17-9 with just over 11 minutes remaining in the half on a jump shot by TJ Clardy. Hardin pushed the advantage to double-digits for the first time at the 6:22 mark of the opening half with a layup to go up 31-20 and the lead continued to grow from there. 

Keton's 3-pointer with 17:42 to go in the second half pushed the lead to 47-35 and then the lead grew to its largest point at 62-39 with 8:56 remaining after a Jayvon Clark 3-pointer.

Williams shot a blistering 46.6 percent (27-of-58) from the field, including 38.5 percent (10-of-26) from beyond the arc. They also limited their mistakes to just eight turnovers and kept the Trojans from scoring off any of their mistakes throughout the contest. 

With the win, Williams improved to 12-9 on the year and 4-6 in the AMC. 

The Eagles will host Central Baptist College Tuesday Feb. 13 at the Southerland-Mabee Center. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.