Box Score

St. Louis, Mo. - The Southwest Baptist University men's basketball team picked up a 61-55 road victory over Maryville on Friday evening. With the win, SBU improves to 2-2 on the season.

The Bearcats jumped out to an 8-0 lead out of the gate, and never looked back in a game where SBU led for the entire 40 minutes. Kai Woodfall hit a three for the first points of the game, followed by a Logan Hovey layup and another three from Woodfall put the Bearcats up 8-0 with 17:07 left in the first half. The Bearcats continued to hold a small lead for the next nine minutes of the game before Cartree Pettis connected on a layup to push the lead to nine at 16-7. After Maryville cut the SBU lead back to six (18-12) with 5:33 left in the half, the Bearcats responded with a 6-0 run over the next three minutes to push the lead to double-digits. Matt Ritter hit a layup, followed by a Karim Mouliom free throw, and capped off with a three from Ritter to take a 24-12 lead with 2:50 left in the half. Maryville finished the half on a 6-2 run as the Bearcats went into the break up 26-18.

Woodfall knocked down his third three of the game to open up the scoring in the second half and extend the Bearcat lead back to double figures. The Bearcats and Saints continued to exchange baskets, with MU eventually cutting the SBU lead back down to five at 37-32 with 12:27 remaining. The Bearcats promptly responded with a Hovey layup and a three from Andy Campbell to push the lead back to ten at 42-32 with 11:03 remaining. Maryville continued to hang around, but SBU continued to hold a double-digit lead over a majority of the second half. A Brian Patterson layup with 4:32 remaining pushed SBU's lead to a game high 14 at 55-41, as SBU would eventually go to on claim a 61-55 victory.

Brian Patterson had a team high 12 points while also pulling down 9 rebounds, while Logan Hovey and Kai Woodfall both added 11 points each. Cartree Pettis dished out a career high 8 assists, while Louis Baltazar and Kalehl Brown both pulled down 9 rebounds in the win. As a team SBU shot 36.8% from the field, 26.1% from beyond the arc, and 61.9% from the line.

SBU will return to action on Tuesday, November 22 when they host Central Baptist College. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. from the Meyer Sports Center in Bolivar.