Bolivar, Mo. – The Southwest Baptist University men’s basketball team clinched a spot in the MIAA Postseason Tournament with a 61-54 victory over Pittsburg State on Saturday. The the victory, which is the fourth in five games, SBU improves to 14-10 (7-8 MIAA) on the season.
The contest was slow to start, and a Logan Hovey three with 12:43 left in the first half tied the game at 7-7. Both teams exchanged buckets, a three from Cartier Dean gave SBU their first lead of the game at 12-11 with 11:21 left in the half. Pittsburg State would respond with a pair of baskets to re-take the lead, but a three from Kalund Brown brought SBU back within one at 18-17. PSU would end the half on a 13-3 run as the Bearcats headed in the locker room trailing 31-20.
SBU came out in the second half strong, using an 11-4 run to pull the deficit back to single digits. Brian Patterson and Dean would combine for 9 of the points during the run, as the Bearcats trailed 35-31 with 16:14 remaining. PSU ended the run with a three, but the Bearcats started 13-0 run which would give them a 44-38 lead with 12:32 to go. Woodfall opened the run open with a three, followed by an old-fashioned three point play from Dean, four straight from Hovey, and a three from Karim Mouliom closed out the run. Pitt answered with a layup, but a Dean three would push their lead to 7 at 47-40 with 11:52 remaining.
The teams exchanged points over the next eight minutes, as the Bearcats held their 7 point lead with 6:19 to go. The Gorillas then used a 5-0 run to cut the Bearcat lead to two at 54-52 with 2:32 to go. SBU held off a PSU comeback, with a Patterson layup, Woodfall jumper and free throw, as the Bearcats pushed their lead back to 7 at 59-52 with 37 seconds remaining. The two teams would exchange points in the final seconds as SBU came away with a 61-54 victory.
Cartier Dean led the Bearcats with 15 points and 4 assists, while Brian Patterson had 15 points with Kai Woodfall and Logan Hovey each chipping in 8 points a piece. On the boards Karim Mouliom tied his career high with 8 rebounds. As a team SBU shot 52.5% from the field, 40.0% from beyond the arc, and 68.4% from the line while out-rebounding the Gorillas 35-18.
SBU will hit the road on Thursday, February 16 when they travel to Emporia State. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. from Emporia, Kansas.
