Bolivar, Mo. – The SBU Men's Basketball team held their home opener Tuesday evening, defeated Ozark Christian by a score of 95-70 to improve to 2-1 (0-0 GLVC) on the year.
 
The Ambassadors got on the board first, but Damian Prgomet then hit a three to put SBU ahead 3-2. OCC took an 11-6 lead with 13:26 left in the first half. About a minute later Brady Smith fed Houston Johnson a pass to bring SBU within 1. Brady Smith scored the next 8 points for SBU, helping them take an 18-17 lead halfway through the 1^st period. The teams battled back and forth for a while before SBU started pulling away. With 1:09 on the clock, Brady Smith stole the ball away and went cross-court for the slam to put SBU up by 13. The half ended with a 41-30 SBU lead.
 
The Bearcats came out of the break with a fire underneath them, quickly jumping to a 19-point lead, thanks to 3 pointers from Godfrey Rolle, Quinn Nelson, and Joe Miller. Brady Smith later contributed a 3-point play, but in a different manner than the others. He put home a jumper and was fouled, converted the third point on the free throw. SBU hit their largest lead (30) twice, the first coming off of free throws by Houston Johnson with 11:39 left and the second coming with 1:52 to go as Quinn Nelson hit a 3 pointer. OCC managed to score a couple more times, creating a final of 95-70 in favor of SBU.
 
All 5 starters finished with double digit points, Brady Smith leading the way with 18. He went 7-12 from the field, 3-3 from the free throw line, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals. Godfrey Rolle and Joe Miller both went 3-4 from three-point range.
 
The men's team competes against Arkansas Little Rock in an exhibition on Thursday, November 14 at 6:30 PM. Their next regular season contest will be against Hannibal-LaGrange on November 19 at 7 PM.