After finishing the regular season on a seven game winning streak, five of those against Midwest Christian College Conference opponents, the Barclay College men’s basketball team secured the MCCC regular season championship outright over the weekend. They headed into the weekend needing to win two games to finish a game ahead of a whole pack of teams, and that’s just what they did.

On Friday night they rolled into Belton, Mo. and took on Calvary Bible College on their senior night. The Warriors came out and played with a ton of spirit in the early goings, but the Bears were able to push their lead up to 47-27 by halftime thanks to 15 first half points by sophomore Jay Milton (Paris, Texas). In the second half, the Bears were able to take full advantage of their depth as reserve point guard Adrian Maloney Jr. (Wichita, Kans.) scored 10 of his 15 points after intermission to help the Bears cruise to a 93-54 win.

Friday night’s victory set up yet another showdown with Ozark Christian in Joplin, Mo. on Saturday afternoon. Virtually every game played between these two teams over the past two seasons has been sheer entertainment. The Ambassadors limped into the game with no shot at the conference title after a tough loss to the hands of Manhattan Christian (Manhattan, Kans.) the night before, but it was senior day for the Ambassadors as well. However, in their final regular season game, the Bears were determined to finish well. They played one of their most complete games of the season. Although they didn’t shoot stellar, they were consistent all afternoon and were able to build a 24 point lead halfway through the second half and then close it out 79-69 to finish 9-1 in conference play. Junior Jay Bradley (Wichita, Kans.) led the Bears with 21 points while senior Charles Brodhead (Lompoc, Calif.) contributed 11 points and 9 rebounds.

The Bears (13-13, 9-1) will be the #1 seed in the conference tournament. They will play St. Louis Christian College on Thursday afternoon at 4:00pm right back in Joplin, Mo.