St. Charles, Mo. – The SBU men’s basketball team began postseason play this afternoon as they took on Illinois-Springfield in the quarterfinals of the GLVC tournament. The Bearcats led for 38 minutes and came away with their first GLVC tournament victory with an 80-76 win. They will now move to play in the semifinals on Saturday at 2:15 PM.
The team as a whole shot 52% from the field going 26-50 and went 11-25 from beyond the arc for 44%. The biggest difference from the previous two games against the Prairie Stars came from the charity stripe. In the previous two games, the Bearcats went 20-36 from the free-throw line for 55%. Today they went 17-20 from the field for 85%. The Bearcats also outrebounded the Prairie Stars 36 to 30.
Junior RJ Crawford had a career game scoring a high 22 points off seven field goals and three from beyond the arc. He also knocked down five free throws and pulled down eight rebounds. Redshirt freshman had his highest scoring game since they played the Prairie Stars on the road with 15 points. He shot 54.5% from the field and pulled down three rebounds to go along with a massive block in the first half. Mitch Ganote had another strong game leading the team on the glass with 10 rebounds, dishing out three assists, and scoring eight points.
Southwest Baptist will play the winner of either #3 William Jewell or #6 McKendree University on Saturday March 4th. William Jewell and McKendree will play Friday afternoon at 2:15 PM.
