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Bolivar, Mo. – The Southwest Baptist University men's basketball team picked up their first MIAA victory of the season on Saturday afternoon, taking down Missouri Western 79-76. With the win, the Bearcats improve to 5-2 (1-1 MIAA).

The Bearcats shot over 50% from the field in a game which featured 60 fouls, as SBU and MWSU played in a tight physical contest. After Missouri Western opened up the scoring at the 18:02 mark in the first half, Southwest Baptist reeled off eight straight points, capped off by a Marley Biyendolo three, to take an 8-2 lead with 15:47 left in the half. MWSU responded with eight straight points, but a three from Cartier Dean and a layup from Damian Progmet put the Bearcats back on top 13-8. After a bucket from the Griffons, Andy Campbell sunk back-to-back three to extend SBU's lead to 19-10 with 11:03 left in the half. Once again Missouri Western fought back, tying the contest up at 21-21, before SBU came back with a 12-1 run to lead 33-22 with 4:17 in the half. Eli Sample and Progmet gave the Bearcats a big boost off the bench, accounting for 9 of the 12 points during the run. A layup from Nate Nahirny with 2:44 left in the half gave SBU their biggest lead of the game (39-25), before taking a 41-32 lead into the break.
Logan Hovey opened the second half up with a layup, extending SBU's lead to 43-32, but Missouri Western quickly knocked it back down to six (43-37) with 18:00 left in the contest. The Bearcats put in a pair of buckets over the next three minutes of the contest, but the Griffons continued to chip away, as SBU lead 47-44 with 14:58 to go. After a pair of free throws from Hovey, MWSU hit a pair of free throws and added a layup to cut the SBU lead to one at 49-48. SBU once again responded with a layup from Hovey and a three from Nahirny to push their lead back to six (58-52) with 10:16 left in the game. Biyendolo then hit a pair of free throws to give SBU their biggest lead of the second half at 60-53 before MWSU started to chip away once again. Four straight free throws from MWSU cut the lead back to three, but another Campbell three extended the SBU back to six (63-57) with 8:14 left in the game.

After SBU regained a seven point lead with 5:09 left in regulation, MWSU used an 8-0 run to gain their first lead since the opening bucket of the game at 70-69 with 2:01 left. Brian Patterson converted on an old fashioned three-point by to give SBU the lead back (72-70). Free throws from Sample and Cartier Dean extended the SBU lead to 75-70 with 24 seconds left in the game, but the Griffons wouldn't go away. A Missouri Western three with 16 seconds left cut the lead down to two, but two clutch free throws from Nahirny gave SBU a 77-73 lead with 13 seconds to go. Once again Western hit a three, and once again Nahirny hit two big free throws to give the Bearcats a 79-76 lead with 7 seconds left. A Missouri Western three at the buzzer hit off the rim, as SBU picked up the big 79-76 victory.

SBU was led in scoring by Brian Patterson who had 14 points and 5 rebounds in only 18 minutes of action. Nate Nahirny added 12 points and 4 assists, while Eli Sample and Andy Campbell both added 11 points off of the bench. As a team, SBU shot 51.0% from the field, 40.0% from beyond the arc, and 67.7% from the free throw line.
The Bearcats will return to action on Thursday, December 10 when they host Nebraska-Kearney. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. from the Meyer Sports Center in Bolivar.