Box Score

Bolivar, Mo. - The Southwest Baptist University men's basketball team picked up a big MIAA victory on Thursday evening, defeating Missouri Southern 84-62. With the win, the Bearcats improve to 13-10 (6-8 MIAA) on the season.

The Bearcats came out shooting the ball well, Kai Woodfall drained a three on the first shot of the game followed by a Brian Patterson layup to take an early 5-0 lead. After a Southern three, Logan Hovey drained a three to put the Bearcats back on top by five. With SBU leading 10-6 with 16:39 left in the first half, the Bearcats used a 7-0 run, with a three from Hovey, a layup from Patterson, and a dunk from Karim Mouliom, to take their first double-digit lead of the game at 17-6. Southern responded with a pair of buckets, but another small run by SBU, capped off with a Patterson layup, gave the Bearcats a 26-12 lead with 7:11 left in the half.

MSSU got two back on a layup, but a 5-0 run from SBU extended the lead to 31-14 with 5:03 left in the half. Southern again knocked the lead down to 12, but a 6-0 run by SBU answered the Lions threat as the Bearcats led 37-19 before going into the half with a 37-21 lead.

Opening up the second half Missouri Southern again cut the Bearcat lead down to 12 (39-27) with 17:15 to go, but SBU promptly responded. Hovey connected on a pair of free throws, followed by a three from Woodfall and layups from Patterson and Hovey to extend the lead to 21 (48-27) with 14:39 remaining. The Bearcats continued to hold the Lions at an arm's length away, never letting Southern get closer than 15 points. A layup from Kalehl Brown with 7:45 remaining gave SBU their largest lead of the night at 25 (67-42) before SBU cruised to the 84-62 victory.

Logan Hovey led all scorer's with 27 points and 7 rebounds, while Karim Mouliom chipped in 15 points off of the bench. Kai Woodfall drained four three's en route to a 13 point performance, while Brian Patterson had 10 points and 8 rebounds. As a team SBU shot 61.2% from the field, 53.8% from beyond the arc, and 68.0% from the line. The Bearcat defense held the MIAA's top scoring team to 23 points fewer than their average on the season.

SBU will return to action on Saturday, February 11th when they host Pittsburg State. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m. from the Meyer Sports Center in Bolivar.