Box Score St. Joseph, Mo. - The Southwest Baptist University men's basketball team fell to the hands of Missouri Western on Saturday afternoon 89-84. With the loss, SBU now stands at 8-9 (1-7 MIAA) on the season.

The Bearcats and Griffons played a tight first half, with Southwest Baptist held a marginal lead throughout the half. The Bearcats pushed their lead to a game high 6 with 3:49 to go in the first half off of a Derrick Stewart three, and went into the half up 39-37. In the second half the Bearcats continued to hold a small lead for the first eight minutes of the half before Missouri Western slowly started to build their lead. After SBU found themselves down nine (69-78) with 3:04 to go in the game, the Bearcats continued to fight, cutting the Griffons lead to two (80-82) with 1:04 to go. However, SBU couldn't complete the comeback as they ended up falling 89-84.

Desi Barmore led the Bearcats with 27 points off of 9 of 16 shooting from the field to go along with a team high 6 rebounds. Derrick Stewart added 17 points, while Menas Stephens had 11 and Preston Guiot had 10 and 7 assists in the loss. As a team SBU shot 46.9% from the field, 43.8% from beyond the arc, and 50.0% from the free throw line.

The Bearcats will return to action on Wednesday, January 22 when they travel to Lindenwood to face the Lions. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. from St. Charles, Missouri.