Box Score

Bolivar, Mo. - The Southwest Baptist University men's basketball team picked up their first MIAA victory on the season with a 65-53 win over Northeastern State on Saturday. With the win SBU improves to 6-3 (1-1 MIAA) on the season.

NSU opened up the scoring in the contest, but the Bearcats answered quickly with a layup from Logan Hovey followed by a layup from Brian Patterson to take an early 4-2 lead. The RiverHawks tied it up but another layup by Hovey took the lead back with 16:37 left in the first half. A scoreless couple of minutes was ended by Patterson's free-throw, and after another couple minutes Andy Campbell was able to pull down a rebound and put it back up to extend the Bearcats lead to 9-4 with 13:01 on the clock. A 4-0 run by the RiverHawks pulled them with in a single point, but layups from Hovey and Patterson pushed SBU back up at 13-8 with under 10 minutes to play. A 7-0 run by NSU gave the RiverHawks the lead but Louis Baltazar's pass to Kalehl Brown resulted in a layup tying the game 15-15 with 5:50 left in the half. After a free-throw from Kalehl Brown, NSU again took the lead at 17-16, but 3-pointers from Campbell and Woodfall, both assisted by Cartier Dean, gave SBU a 22-17 lead with 3:27 left on the clock. The game stayed close until the half, and a layup from Hovey and free-throws from Patterson sent the Bearcats into the half leading 26-21.

Patterson's pass to Hovey for a layup started the second half of the game. A free-throw from Cartree Pettis dropped to maintain the 5-point lead (29-24) with 17:41 left in the game. Woodfall found Hovey in the paint who scored on a layup to extend the Bearcat lead to 31-26. NSU continued to fight but shots from Patterson and Pettis kept the Bearcat's slim lead at 35-30 with 14:49 left to play. Shots dropped for both teams as SBU continued to lead the game. NSU pulled within just a couple of points but a well-timed 3-pointer by Woodfall from Dean dropped helping the Bearcats stay on top 39-34 with 12:06 left in the game. Hovey went 2-2 from the free-throw line before Dean picked up his 5th assist of the game by finding Woodfall outside who nailed a 3-pointer to give SBU their largest lead of the game thus far at 47-38 with 9:07 on the clock. A short 4-0 run by NSU was cut off by Karim Moulliom's free-throws putting the score at 49-42 with just under 8 minutes to play. A scoreless couple of minutes passed before back-to-back layups from Dean and Patterson landed to give SBU their first double-digit lead of the game (53-42) with 4:57 left in the game. NSU's free-throws cut the Bearcat's lead back down to single digits but the Bearcats answered back as Patterson drew a foul and went 2-2 from the line as the Bearcats remained in the lead at 55-46. Free-throws were exchanged between both teams before Dean connected on a 3-pointer to take back a double-digit lead for the Bearcats as they led 60-50 with 1:30 remaining in the game. Woodfall went 5-6 from the free-throw line down the stretch to help clinch the Bearcat win at 65-53.

Leading the way offensively for the Bearcats was Kai Woodfall who had a team high 17 points as he connected on four three's. Brian Patterson contributed 14 points and a team high 9 rebounds followed closely by Logan Hovey who also had 14 points while contributing 8 rebounds. Cartier Dean picked up a team high 5 assists in the Bearcat win. As a team, SBU shot 38.5% from the field, 26.1% from behind the 3-point line, and 76.0% from the free-throw line. 

The SBU men will head to the University of Central Missouri for their first road MIAA game of the season on Saturday, December 10th. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. in the Multipurpose Building in Warrensburg, Missouri.