CANTON, Mo. - The Mount Mercy Mustangs lost to a hot-shooting team on  a cold night Thursday.

Mike Johnson poured in 31 points as Culver-Stockton topped the  Mustangs, 97-87, in a Heart of America Conference game.

Three Culver-Stockton players combined to score 73 points with Johnson  netting 31, Mason Vires 22 and Thaddeus Newby 20. Johnson and Newby  canned five 3-pointers.

Culver-Stockton shot 55.9 percent from the floor and was 12 of 17 on  3-pointers for a sizzling 70.6 percent, including an 8 for 8  performance from long distance in the second half.

Antwain Strong led five Mustangs into double figures with 17 points.  Dennis McKinney and Christian Reischauer netted 14 points apiece, Mike  Evans 13 and DJ Johnson 12. Bailey Basala returned to action after  missing four games with a sprained ankle and hit three triples for  nine points.

The setback dropped Mount Mercy to 10-10 overall and 5-9 in the  conference. Culver-Stockton raised its records to 11-10 overall and  7-8 in the league.

The Mustangs led by 10 points midway through the first half, but  trailed 43-39 at intermission.

MOUNT MERCY (87): McKinney 6 0-2 14, Evans 6 1-2 13, Basala 3 0-0 9,  Strong 5 6-6 17, Villagrana 1 0-0 3, Doe 1 0-0 3, Albagami 0 0-0 0,  Reischauer 5 2-2 14, Johnson 5 1-2 12, Kehinde 1 0-0 2. Totals 33  10-14 87.

CULVER-STOCKTON (97): Smith 4 0-2 8, Green 2 1-2 5, Vires 7 8-8 22,  Johnson 10 6-9 31, Newby 6 3-4 20, London 1 1-2 3, Jackson 2 0-0 5,  Mitchell 0 0-0 0, Cosby 1 0-0 3, Happel 0 0-0 0. Totals 33 19-27 97.

Halftime - Culver-Stockton 43, Mount Mercy 39. 3-point goals - Mount  Mercy 11 (Basala 3, McKinney 2, Reischauer 2, Strong 1, Villagrana 1,  Doe 1, Johnson 1), Culver-Stockton 12 (Johnson 5, Newby 5, Jackson 1,  Cosby 1).