Joplin, MO – The Barclay College Bears Men’s Basketball team was given the #3 seed in the five team NCCAA Southwest Region Tournament held on the campus of Ozark Christian this year. With the #3 seed, the Bears received a first round bye and went head to head with Arlington Baptist. The winner would advance to the championship game and keep their hopes alive for an automatic bid to the NCCAA Division II National Tournament.

The game was on Friday, February 22nd and the Bears came out lethargic. Arlington Baptist built an early double digit lead before the Bears cut it back down to single digits halfway through the first half. Arlington’s strong interior play and their ability to brake down the Bears off the dribble allowed them to stretch the lead all the way to 23 points by halftime and they never looked back.

Early in the second-half Arlington Baptist capitalized on multiple three pointers to stretch their lead even more and defeat the Bears 93-61. On Saturday afternoon they defeated Hillsdale Free Will Baptist by 26 points and will represent the Southwest Region in the NCCAA National Tournament in two weeks.

Sophomore Charles Brodhead led the Bears with 22 points and 10 rebounds as the Bears shot 34% from the field in comparison to a blistering 58% from Arlington Baptist.

The Bears (17-9, 8-2) will be the #5 seed in the ACCA Tournament beginning on Wednesday, February 27th. They face Faith Baptist at 9:00 PM CST.