Box Score

Bolivar, Mo. - The Southwest Baptist University men's basketball team fell to the hands of Central Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon 73-61. With the loss, SBU drops to 8-8 (3-4 MIAA) on the season.

Central Oklahoma opened the contest up with two straight buckets before SBU got on the scoreboard. A three pointer by Derrick Stewart gave the Bearcats their first lead of the game at 5-4, and SBU pushed their lead to nine (21-12) off of a Finn Delany layup with 8:23 left in the first half. The Bearcats held strong for the remainder of the half, taking a four point lead into the break up 30-26.

In the second half Central Oklahoma came right out with an 8-0 run to take a 34-30 advantage over SBU. The Bearcats re-took the lead off of a Stewart three and a pair of free throws from Delany to go up 35-34. However, Central Oklahoma got hot from the field and used a 27-5 run to open up the contest. The Bearcats started to slowly chip away at the lead, but it wasn't enough as SBU would end up falling 73-61.

Menas Stephens recorded his eighth double-double on the season with a team high 15 points and a team high 12 rebounds. Derrick Stewart added 12 points while Finn Delany had 6 points and 7 rebounds in the loss. As a team SBU shot 37.3% from the field, 28.6% from beyond the arc, and 84.6% from the free throw line.

The Bearcats will hit the road on January 14 when they travel to Northwest Missouri. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. from Maryville, Missouri.