Kirksville, Mo. – The 2020-21 regular season came to an end Saturday afternoon. SBU ended the regular season with a 15-6 record after falling to the #3 nationally ranked Truman State Bulldogs.
 
The Bearcats scored the first 6 points of the game, holding Truman State scoreless for the first 4:24. They quickly evened the score, but SBU maintained a lead for a majority of the first half. TSU's leader hit a three at the 9:48 mark to take a 14-13 lead, but Tyler Williams threw down a dunk and Joe Miller hit a big three to take it right back. A few possessions later, Juan Morales scored 5 straight on a three and a jumper to give SBU a 28-23 lead with 3:28 left in the first. Late in the first Brady Smith hit a couple of jumpers to give SBU a score of 32, but Truman State made a shot in the final seconds to even things at 32 heading into halftime.
 
More back and forth action started the second half, SBU getting on the board first thanks to Jalil Beaubrun. Juan Morales hit another three and a couple of free throws to give SBU their last lead at 43-40. From there, Truman took over with a 10-point lead. Brady Smith and Ricky Crawford Jr. hit a couple of threes to narrow the deficit, but the Bearcats weren't able to catch back up, falling 66-79.
 
Brady Smith led all scorers with 20 points, shooting 50% from the field. He also led SBU in rebounds (6), assists (4), and steals (3). Juan Morales tied his career high in points at 12, and had a personal best 2 three pointers made on the afternoon. Quinn Nelson was the other Bearcat in double digits with 12 points. SBU had just 10 turnovers compared to TSU's 15, but the Bearcat got out-rebounded 19-28 and allowed Truman to 61.4% shooting from the field.
 
Heading into Saturday's matchup, the Bearcats were 4^th in the GLVC Point Rating System and the Bulldogs were 1^st. A final standings will be released later this evening, determining who the Bearcats will play in the first round of the conference tournament on Wednesday, March 3.