STEPHENVILLE, Texas – The SBU Bearcats won their first game in the South Central Regional against West Texas A&M, 95-79.
SBU’s Nick Kovacevich scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds to lead the Bearcats. Kovacevich was 6 of 8 from the arc.
D’Ante Harris and Jim Grabowski added respective points of 19 and 18.
It was a game of big runs by both teams, especially in the first half.
SBU’s Matt Rogers directed the opening tip to the Bearcats, and Jim Grabowski nailed a three on the opening possession to open up a 3-0 lead for the men in purple.
SBU’s first run began with 9:15 left in the first half, with SBU leading 19-14, when Grabowski hit a trey to put the Bearcats ahead by 8 (22-14), which was their largest lead at that point. After a WT turnover, Nick Kovacevich came down and buried a three of his own, pushing the score to 25-14. After a steal, D’Ante Harris hit a three, giving the Bearcats a 12-point lead at the 8:10 mark. SBU rebounded a missed WT shot, and Grabowski made a layup, was fouled, and converted the free throw making the score 31-14 at the 8:00 point of the first half.
WT, however, went on a 16-0 run of their own to cut the lead to 1 (31-30) with 4:00 to play before the break.
SBU went into the locker room with a 40-35 lead.
Kovacevich began the second half with a pair of three’s that pushed SBU’s lead back to 46-35. With 16:00 to play, Rogers drove on a break, was fouled as he made the layup in traffic, and converted the free throw. That play got SBU back to the 17-point lead that they gave up in the first half.
“There were two very good teams in this game,” said SBU’s head coach Jeff Guiot. “It was a game of runs, especially in that first half. When we got out to our first lead of 17, and they came back to go ahead, I felt like West Texas increased their intensity and we didn’t.”
The Bearcats shot 45.5% from the field on 30 of 66. They shot 40.0% from long range on 14 of 35. They were 21 of 33 (63.6%) from the stripe.
SBU out-rebounded West Texas 44 to 41. The point guard combination of Justin Brown and Brandon Burgette only had a single turnover.
With the win, SBU’s record stands at 22-7, and they wait for the winner of Tarleton State and St. Marys. SBU plays the winner of that contest on Sunday night at 7:30.
