Bolivar, Mo. – As the spring semester begins at Southwest Baptist University, the men's basketball team continues the grind of their regular season schedule. This week, SBU prepares to go on the road to Illinois where they will face the McKendree Bearcats and the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) Prairie Stars.
 
Last week, Southwest Baptist surpassed the halfway point in their regular season schedule with games against the Lincoln Blue Tigers and the University of Missouri St. Louis (UMSL) Tritons. On Thursday, the Bearcats prevailed with a thrilling overtime victory against the Blue Tigers. Freshman Leo Gayman was named the Player of the Game with his double-double involving 16 points and 13 rebounds. Sophomore Brandon Moore recorded a double-double of his own and contributed an impressive field goal percentage of 53.3%. Moore currently ranks third in the GLVC in field goal percentage and is one of the four Bearcats to rank in the GLVC top 25 in this stat (Moore, Jevin Sullivan, Barron Silsby, Zac Reedus). No other team in the conference has as many players as SBU in the top 25 in field goal percentage.
 
Silsby led SBU in scoring against Lincoln with 19 points. Nine of these points came from 3-point field goals, helping Silsby cement his place as 5th in the GLVC in 3-point field goals per game. Despite SBU's strong performance against Lincoln, they were unable to continue their positive form through the weekend, falling to a battle tested Triton team.
 
Southwest Baptist now looks ahead to this week's games, beginning with a showdown of purple Bearcats on Thursday, January 15 at 7:30 p.m. when SBU takes on McKendree University. McKendree currently sits sixth in the GLVC with a conference record of 4-3 and overall record of 11-4. McKendree most recently came off a weekend where they went 1-1, beating Truman State but falling to William Jewell. The Bearcats of Illinois rank first in the GLVC in points allowed per game with 60.8, while Southwest Baptist allows the third fewest points per game in the GLVC with 67.0. Both teams are in the bottom four in offensive points scored per game, so the game looks to be a low-scoring, defensive battle.
 
SBU's second game of the week takes place on Saturday, January 17 at 3:00 p.m. when the Bearcats take on the Prairie Stars of UIS from Springfield, Illinois. UIS holds a 10-5 overall record and 6-1 conference record, placing them second in the GLVC. However, the Prairie Stars are fresh off their only conference loss which came at the hands of Truman State, a team SBU beat by 15 points earlier this season. UIS has one of the highest scoring offenses in the GLVC, helped by their conference-leading 40.9% 3-point field goal percentage. The Bearcats hope their solid defensive play throughout the season will subdue the Prairie Stars' offense and secure the victory.

To stay in the loop with the men's basketball games this weekend and other sports at SBU, visit sbubearcats.com. Be sure to follow us on Instagram (@sbubearcats) for live scores, news updates, daily content, and more.