Bolivar, Mo. – The Bearcats returned home Wednesday afternoon after playing two games on the road to open the season. In their home opener, SBU downed Rockhurst by a score of 93-81, thanks to an incredible team performance. Mitch Ganote highlighted the way, coming up one rebound shy of a triple double. SBU improves to 2-1 (2-1 GLVC) to begin the year.
 
 The Hawks opened the game with a three pointer on their first possession, but wouldn't score again for nearly four minutes. With 14:04 on the clock in the first half, SBU jumped to a 13-5 lead. Rockhurst then made a big push, taking a 27-19 lead with 8:37 to go in the half. Capping off SBU's run to even the score, Quinn Nelson nailed a jumper and three pointer on back to back possessions. The Hawks regained momentum late, taking a 46-43 lead into halftime.
 
Coming out of the break, Juan Morales made back to back jumpers to regain the lead. After swapping leads a few times, the Bearcats took the lead for good with 17:42 left in the game. An eleven point run gave SBU a 60-50 lead three quarters of the way through the second half. Every time the Hawks began chipping away at the Bearcat lead, a big bucket was made to ensure the safety of that lead. With just under 10 minutes on the clock, RU got within five, but Nico Aguirre hit a big three. A few possessions later, the lead was cut to four, when Mitch Ganote and Brady Smith both hit jumpers. With 6:04 left, the lead dwindled to five again, but it was Mitch Ganote with another bucket and a rare four point play by Quinn Nelson. Aguirre hit another big three with just over two minutes left, and free throws helped seal the game, 91-83.
 
Mitch Ganote was perfect from the field, shooting 7-7 for 20 points. He had 11 assists and 9 rebounds, just 1 shy of a triple double. Brady Smith and Quinn Nelson also contributed double digits, scoring 19 and 16 points respectively. Juan Morales was big down low, grabbing 7 rebounds and making 3 blocks. As a whole, the team shot 64.8% from the field.
 
The team will hit the road to finish out their pre-Christmas schedule. On Friday, December 18, William Jewell will host SBU with tipoff set for 7:30 PM.