Jeff Weseloh (SBU Sports Information) Bolivar, Mo. – The Southwest Baptist University men’s basketball team got a career night from Cartree Pettis, who set or tied career high’s in points, assists, and steals, but fell 80-71 to Central Oklahoma in SBU’s MIAA opener. With the loss SBU drops to 5-3 (0-1 MIAA) on the season.
Central Oklahoma opened up the game with a 10-2 lead, nearly five minutes into the contest. The Bearcats answered with 6 straight points off of buckets from Karim Mouliom and Kai Woodfall, as well as free throws from Mouliom and Louis Baltazar as SBU trailed 10-8 with 12:51 left in the first half. The Bearcats and Bronchos continued to trade points, as SBU trailed 16-15 with 8:47 left in the half after a Baltazar layup. UCO began to open up a lead with an 8-2 run, as SBU trailed 23-16 with 7:30 left in the half, but the Bearcats again fought back with a pair of free throws from Pettis and a layup from Baltzar to trail 23-20 with 5:25 remaining in the half. However, Central Oklahoma used a 12-2 run to extend their lead to double-digits (35-22) before the Bearcats eventually went into the half trailing 37-26.
In the second half the Bronchos pushed their lead to 16 (44-28) with 17:26 to go, before the Bearcats used free throw from Baltazar, back-to-back baskets from Pettis, and a layup from Kalehl Brown to cut the deficit back to 8 at 44-36 with 16:09 remaining. However, the Bronchos responded with an 8-0 run of their own, pushing the deficit back to 16 (52-36). The teams continued to trade baskets over the next ten minutes, as SBU trailed 74-56 with 3:19 to go. SBU started to chip away at the lead, as Brian Patterson scored 10 straight points for the Bearcats to pull them within 10 (76-66) with 57 seconds remaining. However, time would run out on SBU as they would eventually fall 80-71.
Cartree Pettis had a career night for the Bearcats, scoring a career high 14 points to go along with 8 assists and 4 steals. Brian Patterson scored a team high 16 points, while Louis Baltazar chipped in 10 points and Kai Woodfall 9 points in the loss. As a team SBU shot 48.0% from the field, 23.5% from beyond the arc, and 76.0% from the free throw line.
The Bearcats will return to action on Saturday, December 10 when they host Northeastern State. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m. from the Meyer Sports Center in Bolivar.
