Box Score

Bolivar, Mo. - A late put-back bucket from Logan Hovey capped off an impressive 83-82 victory over Ouachita Baptist to open up the 2015-16 season for the SBU Men's Basketball team. SBU improves to 1-0 on the season, while the Tigers, who received votes in the pre-season NCAA Coaches Poll and are the defending GAC champions, fall to 0-1.

The Bearcats, who boast a lot of new faces, got off to a fast start against the visiting Tigers with buckets from Brian Patterson and Logan Hovey to take an early 4-0 lead. It was a back-and-forth contest early on, as OBU held an 11-8 advantage with 14:39 left in the first half. SBU used a 6-0 mini run to regain the lead at 14-13 (13:27), but the Tigers notted the score up on the following possession. The game continued to be played tight, as OBU took a 20-17 lead with 9:38 left in the half. SBU then went on a 7-0 run, giving themselves a 23-20 lead, and wouldn't give up the lead for the remainder of the half. A three from Andy Campbell with 2:08 left in the half gave the Bearcats their biggest first half lead (39-31), but a small 8-2 run by the Tigers put SBU up 41-39 heading into the break.

In the second half SBU quickly pushed their lead to 9 (49-40) off of buckets from Hovey, Brian Patterson, and Kai Woodfall, but once again Ouachita Baptist responded with 9-2 run to cut the SBU lead to two (51-49) with 15:52 to go in the contest. Southwest Baptist then used a 13-2 run of their own to extend their lead to double-digits (64-51) with 11:54 to go. OBU refused to back down, bringing the SBU lead back under ten multiple times, but a pair of free throws from Cartier Dean gave SBU a 71-59 lead with 6:24 left. The Tigers started chipping away, using a 12-1 run to cut the Bearcats lead to one (72-71) with 5:02 to go. SBU continued to hold a small led, but a Tiger three with 3:18 to go tied the contest up at 76-76. From that point forward, neither team led by more than two points. After OBU took an 81-79 lead with 1:11 to go, Patterson hit one of two free throws to put SBU down 81-80. After a missed jumper by OBU with 14 seconds left, Marley Biyendolo sunk one of two free throws to tie the game up at 81-81. However, OBU drew a foul, and hit one of two free throws of their own to take a 82-81 lead with 11 seconds to go. Dean took the inbound pass, drove the length of the court and drove to the lane while putting up a shot where Hovey grabbed the offense board and placed the ball into the net to give SBU a 83-82 lead with 4 seconds left. A desperation three from OBU came up short as the Bearcats clinched the 83-82 victory.

Logan Hovey impressed in his SBU debut, producing a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds to go along with the game winning bucket. Brian Patterson narrowly missed a double-double of his own, scoring a team high 18 points to go along with 9 rebounds. Kai Woodfall was also in double-figures with 12 points, including a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line, while Andy Campbell chipped in 11. As a team, SBU shot 46.3% from the field, 33.3% from beyond the arc, and 73.0% from the free throw line.

The Bearcats will quickly return to action on Saturday, November 14 when they host Arkansas-Monticello. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. from the Meyer Sports Center in Bolivar.