Box Score

Bolivar, Mo. - The Southwest Baptist University Bearcats men's team had an impressive win over the Drury Panthers on Monday night in Bolivar, coming away with a 97-83 victory. The Bearcats shot lights out, with five different SBU players scoring in double figures.

The Bearcats came out shooting against the Panthers in SBU's opening game of the 2011-12 season, but neither team extended a lead past 6 points in the first half of Monday night's game. SBU would make a final push with 2 minutes left in the first half, and go from 5 down to a 4 point lead at halftime, 46-42. The Panthers stayed even with the Bearcats until the 8:00 mark when SBU started to make a run that Drury couldn't recover from. The Bearcats would go up by as many as 17 before coming away with the 97-83 victory.

Preston Guiot was the leading scorer for the Bearcats, with 25 points off of 8 of 15 shooting from the field. Guiot knocked down 6 three pointers, had 8 assists, 5 steals, and 2 blocks in the win. Jake Littrel gave the Bearcats a huge boost off the bench, hitting 6 three's of his own, and scoring 22 points in the contest. Ryan Dougherty played excellent defense against the Panthers top scorer, holding Alex Hall to only 3 points. Dougherty also provided key baskets down the stretch, finishing the game with 15 points. Robson Memnon added 14 points, and Kyle Sloan added 13 in the SBU victory.

As a team, SBU shot 51.7% from the field, and an impressive 47.2% from beyond the arc. The Bearcats out-rebounded the Panthers 38-28 and had 19 second chance points, compared to 5 for the Panthers.

"It was a great basketball atmosphere, and a great college basketball game tonight," head coach Jeff Guiot commented. "Ryan Dougherty gets the game ball. Ryan locked down Alex Hall, and he made him work to touch it, and he made him work to dribble it. I like the character of this team, and I like the heart of this team. These kids played hard. They have all the characteristics of my championship teams over the years, and I am very proud of them. The fans were also outstanding tonight. It was a great college basketball atmosphere."

SBU will be back in action tomorrow night when they host Barclay College. The game is set to tip off at 7:00 p.m. from the Meyer Sports Center in Bolivar.