Bolivar, Mo. — After an icy cold weekend filled with several inches of snow, single-digit temperatures, and two SBU men's basketball games, the Bearcats prepare for their longest road trip of the year where they will take on Upper Iowa University and Quincy University.
 
Last Thursday, Southwest Baptist University fought hard but ultimately lost a heartbreaking contest against the University of Indianapolis (UIndy) Greyhounds on Thursday. However, they both literally and metaphorically rebounded on Saturday to defeat the Lewis Flyers in a commanding 82-48 victory that featured the Bearcats earning almost twice as many rebounds as their opponents. Southwest Baptist's defense played especially well, forcing 20 turnovers and tying the second fewest points allowed by the team this season.
 
Freshman Leo Gayman had an especially impressive weekend for the Bearcats. He finished with a 100% field goal percentage against UIndy before leading the way in scoring for SBU against Lewis with 27 points. Gayman also added an impressive five steals and nine rebounds to his Saturday stat line, capping off an all-around solid performance. The leading scorer for SBU across the entire weekend was junior Zac Reedus. Reedus totaled 40 points between the two games to help him earn his spot as the player with the 7th most total points in the GLVC this season.
 
SBU now shifts their focus to Thursday, January 29 as they gear up to take on the Upper Iowa Peacocks in Fayette, Iowa at 7:30 p.m. Upper Iowa is currently fifth in the conference standings with a GLVC record of 8-3 and overall record of 13-5. They are most recently coming off a weekend in which they suffered two losses to William Jewell and Rockhurst. The Peacocks will provide an interesting matchup for the Bearcats as Upper Iowa both scores and allows the second most points per game in the GLVC while SBU is much more defensively-minded. Southwest Baptist hopes their solid defense is enough to stop the high-scoring Peacocks on Thursday.
 
On Saturday, January 31, the Bearcats will travel to Quincy, Illinois to play the Quincy Hawks. The game is scheduled to tip off at 3:00 p.m. Quincy is in 12th in the GLVC with a conference record of 3-7 and overall record of 8-10. Last weekend, the Hawks suffered a fate similar to that of Upper Iowa, losing in overtime to Truman University and losing to William Jewell in regular time. Currently, Quincy ranks dead last in the GLVC in turnover margin, giving up 273 turnovers this season while only forcing their opponents to 201 turnovers. Southwest Baptist hopes to take advantage of Quincy's high turnover rate and reproduce the defensive performance they had against Lewis.
 
To stay in the know with men's basketball and the variety of spring sports beginning at SBU this week, make sure to visit sbubearcats.com. For live scores, news updates, and daily content, make sure to visit and follow our Instagram (@sbubearcats).