Tuesday night the Bears hosted an NCCAA Division II top ten opponent in #8 Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College (Moore, OK). It was the Bears second of four Southwest Region games this semester. They had already dropped a competitive match to Dallas Christian College (Dallas, TX) at home and needed to protect home court to stay in the region hunt.

From the start, the Bears seemed to be home for Thanksgiving break right along with most of the student body. The Saint’s athleticism and aggressiveness helped them jump out to a 20-6 lead within the first four minutes of the game and it looked as if they would overpower the Bears and run away with the game. The Bears, however, didn’t give in. They  fought back to within four points, 37-41, and took a little momentum with them into halftime.

In the second half, the Saints were able to stretch the lead to as many as 18 points, but the Bears would once again narrow the gap to keep the game within striking distance. In the closing minutes of the game, the Bears hit a barrage of three pointers to, once again, cut the lead to 4 points with 20 seconds left, but that was as close as they would get. The 90-96 loss drops the Bears to 0-2 in region play with a tough Southwest region road trip to Texas to take on Dallas Christian and Arlington Baptist College (Arlington, TX) on the horizon, December 5th and 6th.

Senior Tony Graham (Baltimore, MD) once again led the Bears with 30 points and 6 rebounds. The only other double figure scorer in the Bears balanced attack was Junior Charles Brodhead (Lompoc, CA) with 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists.

“I was really proud that the guys didn’t give in,” said Head Coach Royce Bryan. “They showed a lot of heart to stay in the game after digging ourselves into a huge hole. We seem so close to breaking through, but it just hasn’t happened yet.”

Tuesday, December 1st the Bears will host Manhattan Christian College (Manhattan, KS) at 7:00 PM CST in yet another pivotal Midwest Christian College Conference match.