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Bolivar, Mo. - The SBU Men's basketball team faced off against Williams Baptist's Eagles in a non-conference contest on Monday night, picking up an 80-73 victory. After the win, SBU now stands at 4-1 on the season.

The game started off with a jumper from Williams Baptist, but the Bearcats scored quickly afterwards with a layup by Brian Patterson at 18:40 to tie the game at 2-2. For the next few minutes, the score would go back and forth with Williams Baptist gaining a small lead. Two quick layups from Theo Oghide would tie the game at 13 with 12:17 left on the clock, but the Eagles responded again by taking a small lead. A Brian Patterson layup would keep the Bearcats within 2 at 17-15, and despite the Bearcats strong defense and a layup by Kalehl Brown, the Eagles pushed their lead to 23-17 with 7:42 left in the half. Cartier Dean scored two quick 3-pointers, both assisted by Kai Woodfall, which pulled SBU within two at 25-23. Woodfall would gain another assist when he dished the ball off to Andy Campbell who scored a layup, and Dean's third 3-pointer of the game at 3:07 would put SBU down 32-30. With only 1:33 left in the half, Woodfall again passed the ball off to Campbell who scored another 3-pointer as SBU trailed 37-33. The Bearcats played strong defense and a steal from Campbell gave the ball back to the Bearcats with 45 seconds left in the half.  Woodfall picked up his 6th assist of the half as Nate Nahirny would sink the ball from behind the 3-point line which had the Bearcats trailing by only 1 at 37-36 heading into the half.

The Bearcats were the first to score in the second half with a 3-pointer by Nahirny from Kalehl Brown which gave the Bearcats their first lead of the game at 39-37. The Eagles quickly tied and regained the lead before Brian Patterson scored a pair of free throws and a layup to keep the Bearcats within 1 at 44-43. The Eagles scored quickly before the Bearcats picked up speed and went on a 7-0 run to regain the lead 50-48 with 13:10 left. Woodfall scored his first points of the game with a 3-pointer from Marley Biyendolo with 12:33 left in the game (53-50). The scoring then went back and forth for the next 2 minutes with SBU keeping the lead with free-throws from Brown, Patterson, and Woodfall, keeping the SBU lead at 60-57. The Eagles regained the lead again on another 3-pointer, but Andy Campbell answered back with another 3-pointer from Kalehl Brown which started a 10-0 run for the Bearcats putting them up 70-61 with 6:47 to go. The scoring went back and forth for the next 5 minutes but SBU continued to maintain their lead. Woodfall picked up his 7th assist of the game when Brown was able to get in the paint and score a layup. Free throws from Dean and Nahirny in the final minute of the game would clinch the win for the Bearcats at 80-73.

Brian Patterson led the game offensively for the Bearcats with 23 points while being 7-7 from the free-throw line. Kalehl Brown led the team in rebounds with 8 boards and chipping in 13 points, while both Nate Nahirny and Dean Cartier had 10 points a piece. Kai Woodfall contributed 7 assists in the SBU win. As a team, the Bearcats were 51.9% from the field, 43.5% from behind the 3-point line, and 66.7% from the free-throw line.

The Bearcats will host Northwest Missouri State University on Thursday, December 3rd. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. from the Meyer Sports Center in Bolivar.