KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The RV men's basketball team battled back-and-forth all night against the scorching Hawks of No.19 Rockhurst University on Thursday, February 26th in a highly anticipated matchup of the top two teams in the GLVC standings in Kansas City at the Mason-Halpin Field House. 

Score: McKendree University 58, Rockhurst University 73 

Record: Bearcats 21-6, 14-5 GLVC | Hawks 22-5, 16-3 GLVC 

HOW IT HAPPENED 

Rockhurst struck first with a three-point bomb, but the Bearcats were able to respond immensely with a long-range shot of their own by way of senior guard Cha'Vez Woods (Louisville, Ky.) to which ignited a 9-0 run by his team with three subsequent buckets coming in on the interior. After the Hawks were able to regain a two-point edge thanks to back-to-back triples on their end of the floor, fifth-year forward Noah Franklin (Cobden, Ill.) muscled his way in for a traditional three-point play. 

Two more and-one plays by McKendree by Woods and sophomore forward Joshua Schönbäck (Kierling, Austria) halted a Hawk 8-0 spurt to once again retake a one-point advantage with six and a half minutes left in the first half of play. The trend continued with another eight straight unanswered by Rockhurst, canning a pair from the far-right corner to go up by seven. 

A two-handed posterizing dunk by redshirt junior Justin King (Mascoutah, Ill.) jolted his squad to stay on task, as Andrew Moore (Montgomery County, Mo.) and Wyatt Zellers (Scottsburg, Ind.) were able to lay in a couple to keep within striking distance. With both sides unable to buy a bucket from the field in the final three-plus minutes of play, and relying only on points from the stripe, the Hawks took a 34-30 lead heading into halftime. 

An interception and a swat out of bounds by sophomore guard Rini Harris (O'Fallon, Ill.) opened the second period for the Bearcats with some defensive urgency, however, they were not able to get their first points in the half until Moore sunk a pair from the line at the 15:42 mark, with the home unit opening with seven straight points in that span. King hit the trey ball from the corner to get McKendree back on track from the field and cut their deficit down to six. 

Woods would take the offensive schemes into his palms, converting on two contested lay-ins with a hand in his face to trail 43-48 with a little under eight minutes remaining in regulation. In front of his own bench, senior guard Caleb Burton (O'Fallon, Ill.), struck in a shot from beyond the arc. wound 

A trio of consecutive deep shots by Rockhurst monumentally shifted themselves away from the tight battle, as they would wind up a 19-6 spurt to ultimately hold the Bearcats off 73-58. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS 

• Woods led the team with 17 points on 6-for-11 (54.5%) shooting, along with six rebounds, three assists, and a takeaway. 

• Moore supplemented with 10 points on 3-for-5 (60.0%) scoring to go with a pair of boards and a steal as well. 

• Harris (8), Franklin (9), and Burton (7) combined for 24 of the Bearcats' 44 total rebounds on the evening, in which they had the +9 (44-35) advantage against Rockhurst. 

• McKendree shot 36.5% from the field, 22.2% from deep, and 72.7% from the line. 

• Despite the loss, the Bearcats led the game in bench points (16-3) and points in the paint (28-12). 

• The setback holds McKendree to the six-spot (3.49) in the GLVC Point Rating System with a game left in regular season play, while the Hawks get their first-ever outright regular season conference title with their win. 

UP NEXT 

McKendree will be back in action on Saturday, February 28th, when they take on Southwest Baptist University for a regular season finale at the Meyer Sports Center in Bolivar, Missouri, with tip-off time coming at 3:00 PM CT. 

Fans can tune in live or on-demand on SBU's GLVC Sports Network with a subscription/download purchase required, as live stats will also be provided. Tickets can be purchased at the box office upon entry to the game. 

Keep up with McKendree University Men's Basketball on Facebook, X (Twitter), and Instagram. #GLVCmbb | #D2mbb  

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