Saint Mary men's basketball traveled to take on College of the Ozarks (COFO) on Thursday night and came away with an exhilirating 91-88 victory. The Spires boosted their record to 4-2 on the season. COFO had received votes in the NAIA Preseason Top 25 Coaches' Poll.

COFO would jump out to the first lead of the game with a three point basket and build up a 17 pont advantage as they entered the locker room with a 48-31 lead over the Spires. The second half began no better for Saint Mary as COFO pushed the lead to 22 points leading 56-34 at the 17:34 mark of the second half. Finally, the Spires would find their stride and mount an incredible second half comeback.

Saint Mary would come all the way back to tie the game at 72-72 with 8:07 left in the game and set up a back and forth finish. Grant Greenberg would give the Spires their first lead of the game on a three point basket with 6:13 left in the game to go up 78-76. The Spires would not trail again until 1:05 left in the game after a COFO basket put them up 87-86. COFO would add a free throw to push the lead to 88-86 before Brett Marsh nailed a three pointer with just seven seconds left in the game to give Saint Mary a 89-88 lead. COFO would not recover as they would miss their next shot. Saint Mary would add two more free throws before the close of the game and come away with the 91-88 victory.

Greenberg would lead all scorers with 26 points. Forrest Hicks would chip in with 15 points while Jordan Thomas had 11 and Corbin Medley scored 10 points for Saint Mary. Marcus Mondaine and Andre Clark each had a team high six rebounds. Clark also had a team high three assists. Marsh finished a perfect three for three from the field and two for two behind the three point line good for eight points.

The Spires will wrap up the week with two exhibition games. On Friday, they will take on Missouri Southern State University at 7:30pm and on Saturday Saint Mary will take on Lincoln University at 3pm. Both opponents are NCAA Division II participants.