The Southwest Baptist University men's basketball team fell at the hands of Lindenwood on Saturday afternoon 68-47. With the loss, SBU drops to 8-8 (3-7 MIAA) on the season.
The Bearcats and Lions played a tight first half, as defense was on display for both teams. Lindenwood opened up the scoring on their first possession, but the Bearcats came right back with a layup from Kalehl Brown to tie the score at 2-2. After another LWU bucket, Logan Hovey connected on a three-pointer to give SBU a 5-4 lead with 18:24 remaining in the first half. The Lions then went on a mini-run, pushing their lead to five (12-7) before the Bearcats scored on back-to-back layups from Brian Patterson and Brown to trail 12-11. The back-and-forth scoring continued as Lindenwood connected on a jumper, followed by a three from Nate Nahirny to knot the score at 14-14 with 13:15 left in the first half. SBU re-took the lead (16-15) on a pair of free throws from Hovey, and once again re-took the lead (19-17) with 9:05 remaining in the first half off a three from Kai Woodfall. LWU then used a 7-0 run to take a 24-19 lead, but an Andy Campbell three from the corner cut the deficit back to two (24-22) with 6:31 left in the half. However, Lindenwood went on a 9-0 run to close out the half as SBU went into the break trailing 33-22.
In the second half the Bearcats found themselves down 37-25 with 17:42 left in the contest, but 5-0 solo run from Hovey pulled SBU back within seven at 37-30. Lindenwood once again responded, extending their lead to 13 (45-32) with 13:11 left in the game, before SBU used a 6-0 run to pull it back within seven. Cartier Dean connected on an old fashioned three-point play, followed by another three from Nahirny, as SBU trailed 45-38 with 12:01 left in the game. After both teams exchanged baskets, LWU went on a 11-0 run to open up the game. The Bearcats would eventually fall to the Lions 68-47.
Logan Hovey led the Bearcats in scoring and rebounding with 16 points and 6 rebounds. As a team SBU shot 35.6% from the field, 33.3% from beyond the arc, and 71.4% from the free throw line.
The Bearcats will return to action on Thursday, January 21 when they travel to Central Oklahoma. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. from Edmond, Oklahoma.
