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Date: January 13, 2018
Time: 3:30 PM
Location: Maryville, Missouri

Bolivar, Mo. - Since bad weather postponed Southwest Baptist's game against Missouri Western, SBU (9-5, 3-2 MIAA) starts their weekend road trip when they go to Maryville, Missouri to take on MIAA opponent, #4 Northwest Missouri (13-1, 5-1 MIAA), Saturday afternoon.

Previewing the SBU Bearcats
The Bearcats sport a 9-5 (3-2 MIAA) record in the 2017-18 season. It took overtime but the Bearcats pulled out a 73-68 victory over Fort Hays State their last time out. SBU is paced by senior forward Logan Hovey who averages a team high 19.7 points per game and 7.6 rebounds per game. Marlon Alcindor and Cartier Dean average double figure scoring with 12.8 points per game and 10.4 points per game, respectively. Damian Prgomet is the second leading rebounder on the team with 5.8 rebounds per game. As a team, the Bearcats are scoring 82.2 points per game, which is second best in the MIAA conference, and shoot a conference leading and fourth best in the NCAA 44.2% from behind the arc while giving up 72.4 points per game on 40.2% shooting from opponents. The 40.2 field goal percentage defense ranks second in the MIAA and 19th in the country.

Previewing the NWMSU Bearcats
Northwest Missouri comes into the game with a 13-1 record (5-1 MIAA). This past Saturday, Northwest Missouri was on the road against Pittsburg State and defeated the Gorillas, 84-58. Northwest Missouri has four players that average double figures with two time MIAA Player of the Year, Justin Pitts, leading the way. Pitts, the top scorer in the MIAA, averages 22.7 points per game to go along with 5.4 assists per game. Chris-Ebou Ndow is second on the team with 14.2 points per game and the team's leading rebounder with 7.6 per game. Joey Witthus and Brett Dougherty round out the Bearcats with 11.4 and 10.1 points per game respectively. As a team, Northwest scores 79.7 ppg and leads the nation in scoring defense with 59.8 ppg.

The Coaches
SBU head coach Clark Sheehy is in his fourth season on the SBU bench, holding a 45-55 (22-43 MIAA) record while at SBU. Coach Sheehy holds a career coaching record of 226-156 across twelve seasons while coaching six different All-Americans and over 20 athletes that have moved on to play professional basketball. In their last ten games, Sheehy has guided the Bearcats to an 8-2 record after starting 1-3.

Ben McCollum enters his ninth season as head coach of Northwest Missouri. He holds a career record of 189-72 (115-50 MIAA) that has included 5 MIAA regular season titles. McCollum recentlly led Northwest to an NCAA National Championship in the 2016-17 season.

All-Time Series
Northwest Missouri has the edge in the all-time series over SBU, 42-19. These two teams last squared off in January of 2017 and Northwest Missouri claimed a 75-54 victory over the Bearcats.