Kansas City, Mo. – After suffering a loss to USI Tuesday afternoon, the Bearcats bounced back with a solid 72-59 victory over the Rockhurst Hawks. SBU improves to 7-2 (7-2 GLVC) on the year.
 
It took the Bearcats over three minutes to get on the board, finding themselves down 0-6 to begin the game. A few quick scores and a dunk by Jalil Beaubrun gave SBU their first lead of the game with 14:42 on the clock. Nico Aguirre added to the offensive frenzy, making two three pointers to give the Bearcats a 13-9 lead. Continuing to have success on offense, SBU stretched their lead to as big as 16 points in the first half, but went into the break with a 10-point lead at 35-25.
 
The Hawks trimmed the lead down to 5 with 14:05 remaining, but that was the smallest lead SBU had the rest of the game. Tyler Williams nailed a three and Brady Smith cashed in with a dunk on a Mitch Ganote steal, quickly building their lead back to double digits. Rockhurst narrowed the deficit to 9 with 7:54 left, but Nico Aguirre hit another three and Quinn Nelson drained a jumper to make the score 58-44 a minute later. SBU kept up with RU the rest of the game, answering nearly every shot they had. Brady Smith closed out the game with a dunk and a three-point play to make a 72-59 final.
 
Defense came up huge for SBU in the win, holding the Hawks to 34.5% shooting on 19-55 field goals. In addition, SBU out-rebounded RU 41-27. Brady Smith nearly had another 20-point game, finishing with 19 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks. Quinn Nelson had another solid game, scoring 17 points on 7-9 shooting. Nico Aguirre had a career night, finishing with a season-high 13 points, adding 3 rebounds in the victory.
 
The Highway 13 rivalry is up next on the men's schedule, as the Drury Panthers will visit Bolivar next Thursday, January 21 with a tip-off time of 7 PM.