WINFIELD, Kan. – Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023, (13)Southwestern (6-0) had to rally late and overcome a poor shooting night at Stewart Field House to beat York University (2-3), 83-72, and stay undefeated.

Southwestern built an eight-point lead in the first five minutes, only to have it evaporate by the 11 minute mark as York tied it up, 18-18. And two possessions after tying the game, York's Jaden Henderson would give the Panthers the lead, 18-20.

Southwestern experienced it's first dose of adversity in front of the packed Stewart Field House faithful, shooting a dismal 15% from the three-point line, 2-13, in the first half. The first made three-pointer, by Cevin Clark, were the first points of the game, 3-0, his next made three-pointer wouldn't come until 12 minutes later.

York didn't surrender the lead for the rest of the first half. Their largest lead was nine, 38-29 with a minute left in the half.

Mason Thiessen would spark the Builders going into halftime after already slamming one dunk home early in the half, Thiessen punctuated the end of the first half with another dunk before half with an assist from Clark, but York held on to the lead, going into halftime, up on Southwestern 31-38.

Thiessen finished with four dunks, 13 points, and seven rebounds.

The Builders are averaging nearly 11 made three pointers per game, with 65 total three-pointers in six games. And Clark is the second leading scorer in the nation, at 29 points per game, behind Briar Cliff's, Matthew Stilwill at 30.3 points per game.

To start the second half, York picked up where they left off, Much Biel nailed a jumper on their first possession, 31-40.
The Builders took nearly seven minutes to claw their way back to even on the first of two Clark free throws. The Panther's lead got to as large as nine points as the Builder's cut it to within one point, seven different times in the second half.

Finally, with 6:46 left in the game, the Builders took the lead on the second made Clark free throw.

That sparked a two minute, 7-0 run by the Builders to go up 70-63 with 4:51 left to play. The end of that run was once again punctuated by another one of Theissen's dunks, this time an alley-oop from Jarvis Jennings off the fast break brought Stewart Field House to it's feet.

Jennings finished with 18 points, five rebounds, and two assists. And it was the defense from Jennings late in the game that helped cool off Panther's guard Jaden Henderson, who was on a nine-point, one rebound and one assist run by himself, down the stretch. Henderson finished with 19 points and seven rebounds.

With 2:22 left, and the Builders only up three, 70-67, four seconds left on the shot clock, Trey White made an acrobatic tip pass to Thiessen in the lane, who was fouled by York's Biel, and still made the layup. Thiessen completed the old fashioned three-point play with the made free throw which put the Builders up 73-67.

Clark would hit three crucial and highly contested jumpers down the stretch. And with 59.4 seconds left, and the shot clock down to it's final tick, Thiessen set a high pick and roll for Andrew O'brien, who sliced the pass between two York defenders and found the rolling Thiessen who flipped the ball up as the shot clock buzzer sounded. And with the buzzer still ringing the ball would slowly half roll around the rim to softly fall in, and again Thiessen brought Stewart Field House to a frenzy.

The Builders' clock management would secure the win, 83-72.

Clark finished with 36 points, five rebounds, three assists.

O'Brien finished with four points, seven rebounds, and six assists.

Trey White, who returned from injury, had five points, three rebounds, one assist. Trey Abasolo finished with five points, one rebound.

The Builders are on the road Saturday, Nov. 18, 3pm at Avila College (1-2) in Kansas City, Mo.