ATCHISON, Kan. – What a battle it was in Atchison, Kan. on Saturday evening, as the No. 15-ranked Southwestern men's basketball team overcame a 15-1 run by the hosting Benedictine College (Kan.) Ravens to snag a 12-point road triumph. A strong second-half, in which SC outscored the Ravens by a 43-27 margin afforded the Moundbuilders a 73-61 win over the Heart of America Conference (HAC) opponent.

"Our staff was very proud of how we battled tonight," said head coach Matt O'Brien. "We got off to a rough start, but our players showed character and were able to stick together. Benedictine is a very well coached team that changed defenses often, which provided a challenge for us this early in the season. Road wins are hard to get when you are playing a good program. I am proud of our coaches and players for sticking together."

It was a dreadful start to the battle for the Moundbuilders, as they could not seem to get any of their shots to fall in the first several minutes. They started just 1-of-9 from the field over the first six-and-a-half minutes of the tilt, struggling to knock down any of their long-distance looks. Over that period of time, Benedictine got out to a 15-4 advantage over Southwestern. The Builders would battle back after reaching the 31-19 mark with just over five minutes left in the stanza. Then, an 11-0 run put SC to within one point of the Ravens. The 31-30 deficit would not hold, though, as Benedictine nailed a three as time expired to make it 34-30 at the break. The Builders were just 10-of-33 in the half as a team from the field, while the Ravens shot 13-of-29.

Following the intermission, things changed considerably, as the Moundbuilders shot a staggering 55.6% (15-of-27) in the second stanza. They held a 29-15 advantage in scoring over the first 14 minutes of play, as the Ravens only made nine shots in the half out of their 29 total attempts. Ultimately, Southwestern scored 43 points to Benedictine's 27 in the latter portion of the battle, clinching a 73-61 victory over the home squad in Atchison.

Cevin Clark led the Builders with a 26-point game on offense, as he nailed 7-of-17 shots overall and 3-of-7 from beyond the arc. He also pored in 9-of-10 shots from the free-throw stripe. Deng Bol was next on the box score for the squad, as he sunk six shots on nine tries for 16 points. He was 1-of-2 from deep and made three of his six free-throw attempts. Trey Abasolo was a majorly important piece off the bench with nine points, as he was on target from long range on 3-of-5 shots in the battle. Then, Phillip Smith added seven points to the team tally and Jarvis Jennings was responsible for six.

Andrew O'Brien led the team in assists, claiming three more for his season total. Bol, Abasolo and Smith each contributed a pair of assists to the effort, while Jennings and Trey White had one apiece.

Rebounding continues to be the calling card of O'Brien, as he hauled in 14 boards in this one. Thirteen of those rebounds were grabbed on the defensive end. He was followed by Cooper Pierce with seven backboards and Abasolo with six as the only other Builders with five or more rebounds.

O'Brien also continued to play well defensively, tallying two blocks and two steals in the bout. His efforts were unmatched, but Bol added a pair of steals, and a litany of other Moundbuilders (Clark, Pierce, Abasolo, White and Zach Hidalgo) contributed either one block, one steal or one of each. One of the major factors in the game was the turnover differential, as the Ravens handed the ball to the Builders 19 times in the game. Conversely, Southwestern only had 11 giveaways.

After a beautiful comeback, Southwestern (3-0) will head to the Haskell Tournament in Lawrence, Kan. to play both College of the Ozarks and No. 21-ranked Florida College on Thursday, November 10 and Friday, November 11, respectively. The game times are 5:30 p.m. on Thursday and 5 p.m. on Friday, as SC looks to improve to 4-0 and then 5-0 in the week ahead.

--buildersports.com--