St. Joseph Mo. – The Bearcats defeated the Missouri Western Griffons Wednesday evening, improving their record to 12-11 (6-8 MIAA) on the year. The Bearcats currently sit in 8^th place in the MIAA standings. The top 10 teams go to Kansas City for the MIAA tournament.
 
Missouri Western scored the first basket of the game, but Karim Mouliom answered and got the Bearcats going with a three early on. Quinn Nelson followed Mouliom's three with a three of his own, getting SBU off to a hot start. Missouri Western took the lead and built it to 5 with 13:01 to go in the half. SBU went on a 10-0 run in a two minute span to put them up 20-17. That run was highlighted by Maris Colton and Quinn Nelson three pointers. It was at that point that the Bearcats would hold on to the lead for the rest of the game.
 
The Griffons scored a bucket with 8:37 to go in the half to bring them within three, but the Bearcat offense poured it on. Godfrey Rolle nailed a three, followed by a Chris Rossow layup. Rolle then hit another three, and Rossow followed again with a good jumper on the fastbreak. After a Missouri Western score, it was Rolle again, scoring the next 5 points. Adnan Jahic and Tyler Williams rounded out the scoring for SBU before halftime. The Bearcats had a 43-29 lead at the half.
 
Southwest Baptist started the second half very hot, scoring the first 7 points to give them a 21 point lead. The Bearcats maintained a lead between 13-21 points for the next few minutes. As the clock got under 10 minutes, the Griffons started to make a comeback. With 8:49 left to go, MWSU had gotten back to within 7. Godfrey Rolle nailed another three and Maris Colton scored a bucket to help SBU maintain the lead. With just a little more than 5 minutes to go, the Griffons got within 3 points. It was Godfrey Rolle again scoring to keep the lead. Adnan Jahic also contributed to keep Missouri Western out of the lead. With 1:13 left, Maris Colton made a layup to give SBU a 71-65 lead. The home team made two free throws, but it was Colton again scoring on the next Bearcat possession. Unsuccessful scoring attempts by the Griffons led to made free throws by Chris Rossow, Quinn Nelson, and Maris Colton. The Bearcats finished the game with the lead, 79-71.
 
Godfrey Rolle went 9-14 from the field, including 4-5 from three point range, scoring 22 points and grabbing 3 rebounds and dishing out 3 assists. Maris Colton also scored 22 points and grabbed 4 rebounds. Quinn Nelson was the other Bearcat in double digit points, finishing with 10.
 
The Bearcats play the #1 ranked Northwest Missouri State on Saturday, February 16 with a tipoff scheduled for 3:30 PM.