WINFIELD, Kan. – On Monday night inside Stewart Field House, the No. 11-ranked Southwestern College men's basketball team hosted the Sterling College Warriors in another Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) bout. It felt as if the Moundbuiders were always going to will themselves to a victory in this game, though it stayed close for a majority of the 40 minutes. A 40-17 run by the Builders from 15:52 remaining in the second half until 2:16 would be the deciding factor in this battle that was just a two-point SC lead at 36-34 at the break. In the end, the Moundbuilders prevailed 81-68 over Sterling.

Southwestern would jump out early in the first half to a 14-6 advantage over the first seven-and-a-half minutes of action, as things were looking promising from SC in the early stages. Then, though, the Warriors clawed their way back into the tilt with a 21-13 stretch over the next eight minutes to tie the game at 27 with just over four minutes in the half. The teams would battle closely over the final four minutes to enter the break with a 36-34 Moundbuilder lead. The squads were nearly identical as shooters, as Sterling made 13-of-32 and Southwestern sunk 12-of-32. The one extra make was a three pointer from the Warriors, as they made five fewer free throws than the Builders did.

After taking a break at halftime, the Moundbuilders allowed Sterling to take their first lead of the game at 41-38, but it would not last long. Southwestern scored seven of the next nine points to jump back on top 45-43, and would grapple back and forth for the next two minutes with the Warriors. Then, a 25-7 run occurred, which lasted nearly 10 minutes of game time. It was the lone stretch of the game where Sterling had no answer for the Moundbuilders, as they scored nearly at will in that span. From that point, it was about wasting the remainder of the clock to earn a hard-fought 81-68 triumph. Southwestern still did not shoot the ball particularly well in the second half, but made 5-of-13 shots from long range. They were heavily aided, however, by making 18-of-20 from the charity stripe in the stanza.

Andrew O'Brien was probably the most effective scorer of the basketball in this game, finishing with 15 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including a three pointer. He was outdone in the scoring department, though, by Cevin Clark, who put up 28 points in the battle. An astounding 18 of those 28 points came from the free-throw line, as he did not miss a single shot from the line. He did not have his best shooting night at 4-of-14, but made up for it by coming up clutch with the clock stopped. Jarvis Jennings had 13 points in the tilt on 3-of-9 shooting and Trey Abasolo added 10 crucial points off the bench.

O'Brien had eight assists in the battle, leading the team by a significant margin in that category. The offense continued to run through AOB in this one. The remaining four assists were divvied up amongst Deng Bol (2), Clark (1) and Abasolo (1).

Racking up another double-double with his rebounding efforts was O'Brien, coming up with 13 total boards and snagging three of those on the offensive end of the floor. Bol added six rebounds for SC, while Clark and Phillip Smith were able to bring in five apiece as the top four Builder glass eaters.

It really was a night about O'Brien, as he was either the team leader or tied for the lead in both blocks and steals. He had two of each, and was followed by Cooper Pierce with the only other remaining block, as well as being tied with Smith in steals with two. Bol added the other steal to the Moundbuilder box score.

After another gritty display, the Builders (8-1, 3-1 KCAC) are poised to match up with the Tabor College Bluejays on Thursday, December 1 in Hillsboro, Kan. at 8 p.m. The bout will serve as a pit stop prior to their return home for a tilt with the York University Panthers at 4 p.m. inside Stewart Field House on Saturday, December 3 for the team's Holiday Game.  

--buildersports.com--