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Central Missouri Wins Top-10 Showdown, 115-99
By David Boyce
WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- Monday was good and bad for Southwest Baptist senior center Matt Rogers. He earned MIAA player of the week for averaging 32 points, 6 blocks and 4.5 rebounds over the weekend in the SBU Thanksgiving Classic.
The bad were the last five minutes of practice. Rogers twisted his left ankle.
So in the MIAA opener Wednesday at Central Missouri, Rogers was in his purple Bearcat uniform, but remained planted on the bench in the match-up between two top-10 teams.
"He really wanted to play not only because it was his first conference game, Matt just wants to play," Southwest Baptist coach Jeff Guiot said. "It's his senior year. He's worked really hard. Why go through all those practices if you can't play."
Still, the game was filled with excitement.
Over 4,700 fans sat in the Multipurpose Building and watched No. 2 Central Missouri beat No. 7 Southwest Baptist 115-99 Wednesday evening.
"I always like going up against Matt Rogers. It's a big challenge," said Central Missouri forward Sanijay Watts, who finished with 22 points. "He's one of the best players in the league. I'm kind of disappointed, but I'm glad we got the win."
In the opening minutes Southwest Baptist played well without Rogers. The Bearcats jumped to a 13-7 lead.
"They were making really tough shots at the beginning of the game," said senior Alex Moosmann, who finished with 28 points. "We tried to stay in front of them and contest shots."
The Mules easily weathered the initial burst and slowly wore down Southwest Baptist with the inside scoring of Watts and a few timely bombs from Moosmann and Ryan Harris.
Watts scored 18 points in the first half and Moosmann added 11 more.
Central Missouri tied the game 23-23 with 9:07 left in the first half and kept going. The Mules built a 33-23 lead before Southwest Baptist ended the 12-0 run with two free throws by Tristan Steele, who finished with a team-high 21 points.
The Bearcats were playing catch-up the rest of the way. Central Missouri took a 48-40 lead into halftime. Steele did a great job of keeping Southwest Baptist reasonably close in the first half, knocking down five of six shots and scoring 16 points.
"Tristan really shot the ball well," Guiot said. "He was a major part of us getting off to a good start."
Southwest Baptist briefly made a run at the start of the second half on a couple of inside baskets by Kurtis Koenig. The Bearcats closed to 51-46 on a 10-foot jumper by Thijin Moses.
The Mules made sure that was the last threat. They scored the next 10 points for a commanding 61-46 lead and were well on their way to improving to 5-0 overall and 1-0 in the MIAA. Southwest Baptist dropped to 7-2 and 0-1.
"Obviously, our defense has to get better," Guiot said. "They really hurt us on ball screens. We never got anybody on the same page with their pick and roll, which is their bread and butter of their offense.
"Of course, we have to rebound. They were just tougher than us on the boards."
In the grand scheme of the MIAA race it's just the opener. There are three more months of basketball to determine the league champion. That's one reason Southwest Baptist didn't want to risk playing Rogers on a hurt ankle.
Central Missouri, though, clearly established that it's the team to beat. The Mules have a strong starting five and a bench that can produce points. Junior Bryce Brunz can knock down three-pointers as easily as Moosmann.
Junior Rico Combs, a 6-8 forward, is able to score inside.
From all appearances it is going to take a complete effort to beat the Mules inside the Multipurpose Building. The 115 points were the most ever in Kim Anderson's eight seasons as head coach at Central Missouri.
"This means a lot," Watts said. "Last year we started off with a loss to them. This gives us hope. It feels good to win the first conference game."
To reach David Boyce, contributing writer for the MIAA, e-mail dboyce@themiaa.com.
