Jeff Weseloh (SBU Sports Information) BOLIVAR, Mo. — The Southwest Baptist University men’s basketball team came up just short in a comeback attempt against Missouri Western on Thursday evening, falling to the Griffons 66-63. With the loss SBU drops to 9-6 (2-4 MIAA) on the season.
Cartier Dean opened the scoring up with a layup, giving the Bearcats an early lead, while Cartree Pettis re-gained the lead off of a pair of free throws, 4-2, with 16:56 left in the half. Missouri Western then used a 9-0 run to take an 11-5 lead before SBU answered back with an 11-0 run to give SBU a five point lead. Pettis led the run off with a layup, followed by a Logan Hovey free throw, a Kai Woodfall three, a pair of free throws from Pettis, and capped off with a Kalehl Brown three to give SBU a 16-11 lead with 7:51 to go in the half. SBU continued to hold the lead, and a pair of free throws from Louis Baltazar extended the lead to 21-15 before MWSU used a 6-0 run to tie the game at 21 all with 4:19 remaining in the half. The game of runs continued, as SBU used an 8-0 to have their largest advantage of the game at 29-21, but Missouri Western would end the half on an 11-2 run as SBU went into the break trailing 32-31.
Western came out in the second half with a 6-0 run to push their lead to 38-31. A layup from Hovey cut the Griffon lead to five at 42-37 before MWSU used an 11-0 run to take a 54-38 advantage with 11:20 to go. The Bearcats slowly started to chip away at the Western lead, and after two free throws from Pettis cut the deficit to four (58-54) with 6:59 remaining. Western continued to hold a small advantage, and after four straight free throws from Hovey, SBU trailed 66-63 with 1:13 remaining. After forcing a Missouri Western turnover with 10 seconds remaining, the Bearcats were unable to connect on a three attempt at the buzzer as the Bearcats fell 66-63.
Cartree Pettis scored a team high 14 points to lead the Bearcats, while Logan Hovey chipped in 13 points and 4 rebounds in the loss. As a team SBU shot 40.5% from the field, 31.3% from beyond the arc, and 68.6% from the line.
SBU will return to action on Saturday, January 14 when they host #1 Northwest Missouri State. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m. from the Meyer Sports Center in Bolivar.
