Emporia, Kan. – The Southwest Baptist University men's basketball team fell in the opening round of the MIAA Tournament to Emporia State on Tuesday evening 96-85.

At the start of the game Emporia State came out strong, quickly building up a double-digit lead (17-7) with 16:01 to go in the first half. After the lead was built up to 15 (26-11), the Bearcats used a 12-4 run to pull the game back within single digits (30-23) with 7:14 to go in the half. However ESU promptly responded, increasing their lead to 17 (42-25) before going into the half with the Bearcats down 47-33.

The Bearcats opened up the second half with a dunk by Desi Barmore from Rashaad Brown-Peterson, but SBU and ESU exchanged buckets for first part of the second half. After ESU extended their lead to 17, the Bearcats used a 12-4 run to cut the deficit to single digits (66-57) with 11:41 to go in the half. However, ESU once again extended their lead, going up 79-63 with 7:57 to go. Once again the Bearcats continued to fight back, cutting the Hornet lead to single digits at 84-76 with 5:22 left in the contest. SBU was unable to come any closer, as they ended up falling 96-85.

Jaywuan Hill led the Bearcats offensively with 23 points on 9 of 13 shooting from the field, while Rashaad Brown-Peterson also had 23 points and Menas Stephens added 13 points. As a team SBU shot 51.7% from the field, 35.7% from beyond the arc, and 69.2% from the free throw line.

The Bearcats finish their season 14-15 (7-12 MIAA).