Box score | Season stats

BOLIVAR, Mo. -- After leading by 15 in the first half, the #8 SBU Bearcats held off a scrappy Dallas Baptist ballclub, winning 98-91 Saturday night in Bolivar at the SBU Thanksgiving Classic. The Bearcats had five players in double figures led by Matt Rogers with 28 points. Thijin Moses had 21, Tomas Brock had 19, and Ryan Dougherty and Kurt Koenig had 10 points each.

With both teams shooting well from the field (both at 53% for the game), the Bearcats came huge at the foul line, going a perfect 21 of 21 from the foul line. SBU outrebounded the Patriots 34-31. After connecting on 19 treys against Henderson State on Friday, SBU hit seven of 19 from long range while DBU was 10 of 23.

Head coach Jeff Guiot was pleased with the Bearcat offense. "We executed well in the half court offense. Tim Baines came up big in the second half. He was a real difference maker. Tomas Brock was outstanding the whole game."

Braxton Adamson led the Patriots with 23 points. DBU (1-4) also had five players in double figures.

The Bearcats moved out to a 15-point lead in the first half before the Patriots would close the gap before halftime. SBU led 46-41 at the break. The teams would stay close before SBU would push their lead back up to 13 points with 10 minutes remaining. DBU would get within three points (82-79) at the four minute mark, but SBU would sink all their freebies down the stretch for the victory.

The win extended SBU's home court winning streak to 33 games, the second longest active streak in Division II.

Rogers and Moses of SBU were joined on the All-SBU Thanksgiving Classic Team by Emporia State's Tim Niles and Taylor Euler, along with Braxton Adamson of Dallas Baptist.

SBU (7-1)  kicks off MIAA play with big one Wednesday night, when they travel to Warrensburg to battle the #2 Central Missouri Mules. The contest between the MIAA's top two nationally-ranked teams tips at 7:30 p.m. from the UCM Multipurpose Building. The rivals met three times last year, splitting during the regular season and UCM winning in the NCAA regional final in Warrensburg. The teams were also the top picks in the MIAA preseason rankings: SBU led the coaches poll while UCM led the media poll.