Bolivar, Mo. – The Bearcats picked up a senior day victory Saturday afternoon, defeating Illinois Springfield 73-60 for their third win in a row. On the season, SBU improves to 14-5 and UIS falls to 7-12.
 
Thanks to seniors Brady Smith and Houston Johnson, the Bearcats jumped out to an early lead. The Prairie Stars got on the board making it a 5-3 game, when Quinn Nelson made a couple of baskets to provide a little padding early on. Around the 13 minute mark, UIS made it a 1-point game, but Nico Aguirre hit a couple of big threes and baskets from Mitch Ganote and Brady Smith quickly made it a 21-10 SBU lead. A few minutes later, Houston Johnson found the basket once again and Tyler Williams drained a three to give SBU their biggest lead of the half at 18. The score read 39-25 as the teams went to the locker room.
 
More of the same play began the second half, as SBU took their largest lead of the night thanks to a Joe Miller three. UIS got the deficit down to 13 shortly after the 16 minute mark, when Juan Morales made a layup and a three to make the score 53-35. SBU expanded their lead to 19 a couple more times, but that would ultimately big their biggest lead of the game. Free throws helped seal the game and snuff the comeback attempt UIS made, ending with a 73-60 final.
 
Senior Brady Smith was 2 rebounds from a double-double, dropping 21 points and grabbing 8 rebounds. He also had 2 assists and a block on the afternoon. Jalil Beaubrun led both teams in rebounding, snagging a career-high 12 rebounds. Houston Johnson got his first start of the season, not missing a shot on the afternoon. He scored 4 points, made 2 assists, had 2 steals, and grabbed a rebound in 11 minutes played. As a team, SBU out-rebounded UIS 41-23 and held the Prairie Stars to 21-55 (38.2%) shooting from the field.
 
SBU's regular season schedule wraps up next week on the road at Quincy on 2/25 and at Truman State on 2/27.