Bolivar, Mo. – The Men's Basketball team was back in action after a 10-day break, hosting a non-conference opponent in Williams Baptist out of Arkansas. A dominating second half performance by the Bearcats led them to a 97-72 win, improving them to 8-1 (3-0 GLVC) so far this year.
 
Williams Baptist came out hot and played tight physical defense, making it tough for SBU to score early on. The Eagles had an early lead but Ayden Stone found Jalil Beaubrun to give SBU their first lead at 10-9. Over the next few minutes, the teams were neck and neck, swapping the lead several times. Free throws came in clutch in the final two minutes of the first half, giving SBU a 42-38 lead at the break.
 
Quicky, SBU's lead grew to 10 right out of halftime as Quinn Nelson nailed back-to-back three pointers. Jalil Beaubrun then made a jumper, and RJ Crawford followed with SBU's third three pointer in the first two minutes of the second half. Continuing their solid start, the Bearcats found themselves up 17 thanks to a Jalil Beaubrun dunk from an RJ Crawford feed. Just a couple minutes later, Rico Clouden made a layup to give SBU their first 20-point lead of the game, followed shortly by an Ayden Stone three. The Bearcats kept their foot on the gas and never led by less than 19 for the remainder of the game. Ryan Stevenson closed out the scoring for SBU, nailing a three with 27 seconds left, creating a 97-72 final.
 
As a team, the Bearcats looked impressive with their shooting. In the second half, SBU shot 72.4% from the field and 64.3% from deep, totaling 63.6% from the field and 40.0% from beyond the arc for the entire game. They out-rebounded the Eagles 33-18 and held them to 43.3% from the field. RJ Crawford went 7-10 from the field for 17 points and had 4 rebounds. Jalil Beaubrun missed just once, going 6-7 for 15 points and 5 rebounds. Drew McMillin reached double-digits for the first time in his collegiate career, going 4-5 from the field with 10 points. Again with well-rounded stats was Mitch Ganote, scoring 9 points, grabbing 4 rebounds, assisting on 3 plays, and making 5 steals. Leading the team in assists was Nico Aguirre with his career high of 8.
 
The team will close out non-conference competition on December 30 with another home contest, facing Tabor College at 5 PM.