Bolivar, Mo. – In the first of back-to-back matchups, the McKendree Bearcats came out on top in Bolivar, defeating Southwest Baptist 77-64. SBU has now lost three in a row and sits at 11-5 on the year.
 
Southwest Baptist got off to a very slow start, and McKendree experienced the polar opposite, taking a 17-2 lead 6 minutes into the game. Around the 10 minute mark of the first half, McKendree led 26-6. Shortly after, Ricky Crawford Jr. and Jalil Beaubrun both made three's and Mitch Ganote followed with a jumper to cut that deficit to 12. The SBU Bearcats managed to get within 7 during the first half, but went to the locker room trailing by 8, 28-36.
 
Quinn Nelson got the second half rolling with a jumper right out of the gate. Later in the half, Nelson made another jumper and was fouled, going on to complete the three-point play. That brought SBU within 6, but McKendree got the extremely rare five-point play- an and-one followed by a technical. SBU managed to get within 10 throughout the remainder of the game, but ended up falling 77-64.
 
Quinn Nelson led all scorers with 20 points. Also in double digits for SBU was Brady Smith at 11 points. Jalil Beaubrun got his first start as a Bearcat, grabbing 9 rebounds and scoring 7 points in the loss. McKendree is the first team to shoot 50% from the field against SBU this season. They went 26-52 from the field and 12-28 from three.
 
These teams will meet again for an instant rematch, playing in Lebanon, IL on Tuesday, February 9 at 6 PM.