SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - SBU’s Jeff Guiot picked up his 300th career win in an unforgettable (perhaps shocking) way, as his Bearcats defeated the University of Utah, 80-79, to open the regular season.

"It’s obviously a huge win for our program," said Guiot. "If I'm not mistaken, it's first time SBU has ever defeated a Division-I school. We have seven seniors, and that leadership really showed this afternoon, especially late in the game. The thing I stressed to the team, right after the game, is that we have to handle this victory well. We want to get better every game. We have a group of guys who have bought into our system, and will give anything for the team. When you do that, special things can happen, like what happened this afternoon."

SBU put five players in double figures in the win. Tomas Brock led the Bearcats with 16 points, which included 4 of 7 from long range. Brandon Clemons and D’Ante Harris added 15 each. Nick Kovacevich scored 14. Matt Rogers, who fouled out with 9:23 remaining, scored 12 points. Kovacevich grabbed a team-high 7 rebounds, none bigger than the one with a second remaining on the Utah miss to preserve the SBU win.

As a team, SBU connected on 16 of 32 (50.0%) from long range, and 27 of 64 (41.4%) from the field at large. SBU hit on 8 of their 9 free throw attempts. The Bearcats were out-rebounded 43-31, by Utah, who had a presence inside in 7’2’’ Luke Nevill, who rebounded 14 and scored 28 for the Utes.

SBU took an early lead of 3-2 on a Brock trey at the 19:25 mark of the first half, and didn’t trail until the 16:13 mark of the second half. They regained the lead at the 10-minute mark, and didn’t trail again.

Tonight’s win was Guiot’s 300th (all division).

SBU will take their 1-0 record back to Bolivar on Tuesday night (November 18), as they face Missouri Baptist with a 7:00 pm tip.

Thank you everyone, for your outstanding support and coverage of the SBU Bearcats.

Final Stats