Jeff Weseloh (SBU Sports Information) St. Charles, Mo. – The Southwest Baptist University men’s basketball team used 59.6% shooting from the field to come away with an 81-54 victory at Lindenwood on Thursday. With the win the Bearcats improve to 10-7 (3-5 MIAA) on the season.
The Bearcats and Lions played tight for the first three minutes of the contest, with LWU holding a slim 5-4 advantage with 16:45 left in the first half. However, it didn’t take long for the Bearcats to put some distance between the two teams. Over the next seven and a half minutes of the play the Bearcats used a 23-3 run to push their lead to 27-8. An old fashioned three-point play from Logan Hovey kicked off the run, while Karim Mouliom kicked in back-to-back buckets and SBU received three’s from Brian Patterson, Hovey, and Matt Ridder during the run.
After a pair of free throws from Lindenwood, SBU used an 11-2 run to further extend the lead. Ridder connected on another three, and the Bearcats had two more old fashioned three point plays from Patterson and Mouliom coupled with two free throws from Cartree Pettis to take a 38-12 lead with 4:56 left in the half. Lindenwood cut the lead back under 20 at 40-21, but a layup from Kalund Brown, a three from Kai Woodfall, and a Theo Oghide dunk pushed the Bearcat lead back to 47-24 before heading into the break with a 49-27 lead.
In the second half the two teams traded buckets to open up the period, with SBU holding a 58-36 lead with 13:53 left in the game. A Woodfall three with 6:43 remaining in the contest gave Southwest Baptist their first 30 point lead of the game at 76-45, and after a pair of free throws from Kalehl Brown SBU held their largest lead of the game at 78-45 with 5:00 remaining. The Bearcats would end up cruising to an 81-54 victory over Lindenwood.
SBU had 10 different players score on the evening, lead by Logan Hovey’s 14 points. Brian Patterson chipped in 12 points and 7 rebounds, while Karim Mouliom also had 12 points and Kai Woodfall had 10 points coming from the bench. Cartree Pettis had a team high 8 rebounds to go along with a team high 5 assits in the win. The Bearcats shot 59.6% from the field, 53.3% from beyond the arc, and 65.4% from the line, while out-rebounding Lindenwood 39-24.
The Bearcats will return to action on Saturday, January 21 when they travel to Lincoln. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m. from Jefferson City, Missouri.
