Bolivar, Mo. – For the first time in five years the Southwest Baptist University men’s basketball team has secured a winning record after knocking off Nebraska-Kearney 66-62 on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Bearcats improve to 15-13 (8-11 MIAA) on the season.
In a game in which neither team led by more than 7 points in the second half, it was tight from the start. UNK opened up the scoring, but Logan Hovey layup tied the game at 2-2 in the early going. With SBU holding a 17-16 lead with 11:26 left in the first half, the Bearcats went on a 10-0 run to extend their lead to double figures. Layups from Cartree Pettis and Karim Mouliom kicked off the run, followed by a 6-6 performance at the line from three different Bearcats. Kearney cut it to nine on two separate occasions, but a Brian Patterson layup with 2:53 left in the half gave SBU a 31-20 lead. However, UNK would end the half on a 7-0 run as the Bearcats went into the break with a 31-27 lead.
Hovey kicked off the second half with a layup to push the Bearcat lead to six before UNK responded with a 9-3 run to tie the game at 35-35 with 17:08 left in the contest. SBU answered back with a 5-0 run from Cartier Dean, but again the Lopers responded with five straight points to again tie the game at 40-40. Four lead changes occurred over the next two minutes of play, before UNK held a 49-46 lead with 11:18 remaining. SBU would re-take the lead on a Hovey three with 9:17 to go, but Kearney came right back to re-take a small lead. Trailing 58-56 with 3:01 remaining, the Bearcats used a 10-1 run to put the game out of reach for the Lopers. Hovey scored five straight to give SBU the lead, and a pair of free throws from Dean and Woodfall eventually gave SBU a 66-59 lead with 7 seconds to go. UNK would hit a three at the buzzer, but the Bearcats came away with the 66-62 victory.
Logan Hovey had a strong afternoon for SBU, scoring a game high 26 points on 8 of 12 shooting from the field, while Cartier Dean had 14 points and Brian Patterson chipped in 10. On the glass Kalehl Brown and Louis Baltazar each had 7 boards, while Baltazar dished out a team high 4 assists in the win. As a team SBU shot 41.2% from the field, 23.5% from beyond the arc, and 80.0% from the line.
The Bearcats have earned the #11 seed in the MIAA Postseason Tournament and will travel to #6 seed Washburn on Monday, February 27. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. from Lee Arena in Topeka, Kansas.
