For the main event of Tuesday night, the Bears men were set to face off against the Sherwood Marksmen in a Ozark Highlands Conference showdown. The Bears come in at 11-6 on the season. Over the last 10 meetings between these two teams the Bears are 9-1. The Marksmen surely were looking to make that 8-2 at the conclusion of the evening.

Much like in the women’s match-up, the Marksmen won the tip and drew first blood on the night. The Marksmen would jump to a 4-0 advantage before Trumbore would go to the line to try and get the Bears to come alive. However, the Bears sluggish start would continue, as the Bears would find themselves trailing 15-10 after the first 8 minutes. The Bears would be out rebounded and struggle to find the bottom of the basket in the first of 4 rounds.

To close out the 1st period, and begin the 2nd, the Bears found themselves in the middle of a 10-3 run that would tie the score at 18-18 with 3 minutes until the half. Butler would close out the half with an 11-4 run. Seniors Dylan Davidson and Carter Trumbore accounted for all of Butler’s 11 points during the ending run. Despite the cold start, the Bear’s headed into the locker room with a 5 point 28-24 lead.

Trumbore hammered home a three pointer to spark the scoring in the 2nd half. The intensity began to pick up in a chippy 2nd half, but the Bears were able to silence the noise with a 12-2 run to open the half, led by Trumbore who contributed 9 of those 12. After a 20 point 3rd quarter, the Bears took a 49-32 lead into the final round.

Bears had possession to initiate the quarter and Mallat scored off of a floater to kick off a 8-2 run in favor of Butler. With a 20+ point lead, the Bears continued to coast to a 63-37 victory.

The Bears got off to a sluggish start shooting the basketball, but did a great job getting to the charity stripe 27 times to see the ball get into the basket and lead to some offense.

Carter Trumbore led the Bears in scoring AND rebounding with 31 points and 9 rebounds. Dylan Davidson tallied 18 points on the night as well.

Sherwood was led by Jacob Kanzler with 11 points for the Marksmen.

Photo courtesy of MidAmerica Live