The Southwest Baptist University men's basketball team picked up a big MIAA road victory over Pittsburg State on Saturday afternoon, 83-71. After the win, the Bearcats improve to 8-6 (3-5 MIAA) on the season.
The Bearcats and Gorillas played a tight first half, with SBU holding an early 6-3 advantage after buckets from Brian Patteson, Logan Hovey, and Kai Woodfall opened up the scoring. PSU responded right back with a three-pointer to tie it at 6-6, but Kalehl brown went on a 4-0 solo run to give SBU a 10-6 lead with 16:20 left in the first half. The Bearcats and Gorillas exchanged leads for the next six minutes of the contest, with SBU leading 23-21 after a three from Nate Nahirny with 9:45 left in the half. PSU then used an 11-0 run to give the Gorillas a 32-23 lead with 6:32 left in the half, but the Bearcats were able to answer right back. SBU used a 13-2 run to re-gain the lead (36-34) with 1:47 left in the half. Woodfall started the run off with a three, followed by buckets from Cartier Dean, Damian Prgomet, and Theo Oghide to put SBU in a position to take a lead into the break. PSU hit a pair of free throws, but a layup by Nate Nahirny gave the Bearcats a 38-36 halftime lead.
In the second half Woodfall continued his strong shooting game, hitting three's on back-to-back possessions to put the Bearcats up 44-38 with 18:51 left in the game. The Bearcats continued to slowly build their lead, and another three from Woodfall with 14:15 left extended the SBU lead to 53-44, and a Prgomet free throw gave the Bearcats their first double-digit lead (58-48) with 11:36 left. SBU continued to use strong defense, and back-to-back shots from Hovey extended the lead to 13 (66-53) with 7:42 remaining. Woodfall connected on his 5th three of the game with 2:58 to go, giving SBU their largest lead of the game at 75-59 as SBU cruised to an 83-71 victory.
Kai Woodfall led the offensive attack for the Bearcats, tying his career high in points (17) and made three's (5). Kalehl Brown had another solid effort for the Bearcats scoring a career high 14 points, while Brian Patterson added 12 points and 7 rebounds. Logan Hovey and Cartier Dean both chipped in 10 points a piece, while Damian Prgomet added a career high 9 points in only 6 minutes of action. As a team, SBU shot 59.3% from the field, 43.8% from beyond the arc, and 63.2% from the free throw line.
The Bearcats will return home on Thursday, January 14 when they host Lindenwood. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. from the Meyer Sports Center in Bolivar.
The SBU women fell to 7-7 with an 87-84 overtime loss to Pitt St. with the winning trey coming in the final 13-seconds of OT.
