Box Score

Bolivar, Mo. - The Southwest Baptist University men's basketball team played well in their season opener against Henderson State, but fell 84-79 in the contest.

The Bearcats jumped out early, taking a 5-0 advantage after five points from Tim Pendergraph, but Henderson State slowly started taking the lead. After an HSU three-pointer at the 14:13 mark in the first half, Henderson State would hold onto the lead for the remainder of the first half, with the Bearcats going into the break down 12 at 47-35.

However, the Bearcats would back down in the second half. After Henderson State extended their lead to 14 at 49-35, the Bearcats used a 16-2 run to tie the game up at 51-51 with 15:55 to go in the contest. Both Henderson State and Southwest Baptist played a back-and-forth battle, with neither team leading by more than five points for the remainder of the game. The Bearcats tied the game up off of two Rashaad Brown-Peterson free throws with 2:27 to go in the contest, but HSU pushed their lead back to 4 at the 1:50 mark in the second half. SBU cut the HSU lead back to one (80-79) off of an and one from Preston Guiot, but Henderson State held off the SBU rally as the Bearcats fell 84-79.

SBU was led in scoring by Desi Barmore who had 15 points and 6 rebounds, while Rashaad Brown-Peterson had 14 points and 8 boards. Jaywuan Hill was also in double-figures with 11 points and Afam Obukwelu had 13 points off on the bench. Preston Guiot gave the Bearcats 9 points and 9 assists, while Menas Stephens pulled down a team high 8 rebounds.

As a team SBU shot 40.9% from the field, 34.2% from beyond the arc and 63.2% from the free throw line.

The Bearcats will return to action on Saturday, November 9 when they face Arkansas Tech in the final day of the SBU Classic. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. from the Meyer Sports Center in Bolivar.