WINFIELD, Kan. – After suffering another heartbreaking two-point defeat on Saturday in Ottawa, the No. 4-ranked Southwestern College men's basketball team started slowly against the University of Saint Mary Spires, trailing 18-8 in the early stages of Monday night's Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) matchup. From that point forward, though, it was all Moundbuilders. After putting together their own 18-8 stretch to tie the game at 26, they blitzed the Spires for the remainder of the battle, finishing off the visitors by a final of 98-55 after a dominant second half.

"After starting the game down 8-0, I was proud of our team sticking together," said head coach Matt O'Brien. "Tonight's win was a total team effort," he continued, "and the energy from our bench was outstanding."

Things were not looking great for the Moundbuilders in the first several minutes of the tilt, as turnovers and missed shots were coinciding with impressive shooting from the Spires in the first six minutes and change. An early 18-8 deficit put momentary feelings of doubt in the minds of Builder supporters. Luckily, as has been the case in many of Southwestern's bouts this season, they were able to climb out of the early hole. An 18-8 stretch of their own over the next six minutes would tie the score, before SC took their first lead of the tilt with 7:07 to play at 29-26. The Builders clearly dominated the final seven minutes of the frame, pulling away to a 42-33 advantage at halftime. The Builder offense ended up producing a 15-of-27 (55.6%) shooting line in the opening half, while keeping USM to just 13-of-31 (41.9%) in the opening 20 minutes.

The second half was completely controlled by the Builders, as they poured in 17-of-28 (60.7%) from the field. Saint Mary only hit seven shots on 23 tries in the latter half of the tilt, and were also thoroughly outrebounded 19-7. They turned the ball over 10 times to the Moundbuilders three, which afforded SC multiple extra opportunities on offense. The Moundbuilders would take advantage of the chances, posting a 56-22 scoring lead in the second half over the Spires, which ended the game 98-55 in the Builders' favor. It was Southwestern's largest KCAC win in terms of point differential this season, at 43 points.

Cevin Clark was absolutely unconscious in the victory, as he drained 11-of-18 (61.1%) from the field and sunk 5-of-9 (55.6%) from beyond the arc. Nineteen of those 32 points came in the first half, as he attempted to will the Builders back in front after the slow start. Andrew O'Brien had another efficient offensive night, totaling 16 points on 5-of-7 (71.4%) shooting. He also knocked down a pair of three-pointers on three attempts, as he continues to improve from distance. Deng Bol's 11 points came on a 4-of-5 (80%) shooting night, and Cooper Pierce (9) and Jarvis Jennings (8) each went 3-of-7 from the floor. Phillip Smith led the bench with nine points, including a 5-of-6 night at the free-throw line.

O'Brien was back to being a daft distributor of the orange in this one. He passed out eight assists to lead the squad. Bol was next highest on the Builder box score in that category, having dished out four dimes. Smith and Trey White were the other two SC players with multiple assists. They each tallied two assists in the bout.

Southwestern received a ton of rebounding contributions form their bench, as Smith led the squad with seven rebounds in the tilt. Additionally, another bench player, Zach Hidalgo added six backboards to the Moundbuilders' tally. Then, it was Bol with five, and O'Brien and Jennings with four boards each. Pierce and Trey Abasolo added three rebounds, apiece, while both White and Donovan Kinney added two.

The trio of Clark, O'Brien and Jennings each were able to pry the orange away from the Spires on two occasions. Abasolo was the other Builder to record a steal in the victory. Southwestern also had five blocks from five different rim protectors, as the likes of O'Brien, Pierce, Jennings, Smith and Hidalgo were able to record rejections.

"Our guys were locked into the scouting report that coach Jimmy McSorley prepared," O'Brien declared.

Southwestern (17-4, 11-4 KCAC) will now face a road test, as they will face off with Sterling College in Sterling, Kan. on Thursday, Jan. 26 at 8 p.m., and will follow that up with a battle against the Tabor College Bluejays on Saturday, Jan. 28 at 6 p.m. inside Stewart Field House.

--buildersports.com--