Game Notes

Date: February 8, 2020
Time: 3:00 PM
Location: Bolivar, MO 

Bolivar, Mo. - Southwest Baptist (17-4, 10-3 GLVC) will wrap up this home stretch against Lewis University after defeating Illinois Springfield 88-82 Thursday evening.

SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
After going 8-2 in the month of January with huge wins against #12 Southern Indiana, #1 Bellarmine, and Drury, the Bearcats are off to a 2-0 start in February. SBU's 3 conference losses came against Drury, #23 Missouri-St. Louis who is now ranked #9, and Indianapolis who first upset #1 Bellarmine. Quinn Nelson and Damian Prgomet have each been earned GLVC Players of the week this season. The team currently ranks 2nd in the conference in field goal percentage at .495, and 2nd in three point field goal percentage at .398.

In their most recent competition, SBU defeated Illinois Springfield who had just beaten Indianapolis and Bellarmine. Damian Prgomet and Quinn Nelson had 21 and 20 points, and Brady Smith was right behind with 18 points. Smith also had 6 rebounds and 6 assists.

The Bearcats come into the 2019-20 season following an appearance in the MIAA Tournament last season. Finishing with a 13-15 (7-12 MIAA) regular season record, the Bearcats received the #10 seed in the conference tournament. In the first round, SBU edged out #7 Lindenwood 76-75, becoming the first #10 seed to win a game in the MIAA Tournament and picking up their first conference tournament win since 2006. Washburn put an end to SBU's run in the second round with a 77-58 final score. The Bearcats are now full-time member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference which consists of 16 teams. Lindenwood is also making the move from the MIAA to the GLVC. Three starters return for SBU, Godfrey Rolle, Damian Prgomet, and Quinn Nelson. In addition to those three starters, Tyler Williams and Lucas Brueggemann also return from last year's roster. This year's roster consists of 16 total players, 11 of those being new faces. The breakdown of the roster is 2 seniors, 5 juniors, 4 sophomores, and 5 freshmen. 

SCOUTING THE FLYERS
The Lewis Flyers (Romeoville, IL) come into Saturday's matchup with a 10-11 (5-8 GLVC) record. Their first conference game was a win against Illinois Springfield, then they dropped two against Indianapolis and Bellarmine. Lewis is currently riding a 4 game losing streak, falling to UMSL, Indianapolis, Bellarmine, and Drury. On Thursday, the Flyers fell to Drury 82-84. Anthony D'Avanzo had 25 points on 11-15 shooting along with 9 rebouns and 4 assists. Adam Pischke and Artese Stapleton contributed 17 and 16 in the loss. D'Avanzo leads the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 15.1 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. In the conference, Lewis ranks 13th in points scored (70.3) and 13th in field goal percentage (.454).

THE COACHES
SBU head coach Clark Sheehy begins his sixth season on the SBU bench after compiling a 62-83 (32-66 MIAA) record while at SBU. Coach Sheehy holds a career coaching record of 244-189 across fourteen seasons while coaching six different All-Americans and over 40 athletes that have moved on to play professional basketball.

Scott Trost begins his 14th year on the Lewis bench. Currently, Trost is the winningest coach in Lewis Men's Basketball history. He is averaging 19 wins per season with five 20 win seasons and five NCAA tournament appearances. Last season, Trost led the Flyers to a 25-6 (15-3 GLVC) record, winning the GLVC regular season championship.

ALL-TIME SERIES
SBU trails the all-time series 0-1, with the only matchup taking place in 1971-72.