With the end of the regular season drawing near for the Barclay College Men’s Basketball team, their was a sense of urgency in Hockett Auditorium over the weekend. The Bears hosted Calvary Bible College (Belton, MO) on Friday night and Ozark Christian College (Joplin, MO) on Saturday afternoon.

Friday night the Bears looked to sweep the regular season series against Calvary Bible. At the start of the game, however, the Warriors came out hot and built a lead deep into the first half before the Bears closed the gap just before halftime, 36-36. Paced by Junior Tommy Leach, the Bears wore down the Warriors and took advantage of their thin bench. By the five minute mark, the Bears had built a 20 point lead and then held onto win 73-60 to improve to 3-4 in the MCCC. Leach ended the game with 20 points and 8 rebounds to lead the Bears, while Freshman Caleb Davis added 17 points on 5-11 shooting from three point range and Freshman Cole Hibler dished out 7 assists on the night.

Ozark Christian’s high powered offense was in town Saturday afternoon. Averaging around 100 points a game, the Ambassadors use a full court press and dynamic shooting in attempt to outscore opponents. Both teams rose to the occasion. The Ambassadors shot a blistering 53% from the field but only managed to lead 62-58 at halftime thanks to the Bears 45% shooting and 17-21 free-throws. In the second half, both teams cooled off from the field. With the score 93-89 with four minutes remaining, the Ambassadors were able to win the half court duel as they capitalized on the free throw line and made key plays down the stretch to win 106-94.

Leach once again led the Bears with 27 points, including 4-5 from three point range and 8-9 from the free throw line. Hibler was also a catalyst in the game as he chipped in 18 points and dropped 4 dimes.

The Bears will conclude their regular season this week as they will have Senior Night on Tuesday, February 11th at 7:00 PM CST against Manhattan Christian College (Manhattan, KS). On Thursday they will play a game at Moore, OK that was rescheduled with Hillsdale Free Will Baptist. Game time is set for 4:00 PM. Then on Saturday the Bears will play their last regular season game of the year at Grace University (Omaha, NE) at 4:00 PM.