BOLIVAR, Mo.—The Truman Men's Basketball team entered Thursday night number one in the Midwest regional rankings, and took on the Southwest Baptist Bearcats; ranked number ten. In a crucial in game in which the Bulldogs were trying to hold onto their top spot and the Bearcats sought to break into the top eight, it was the Bearcats who came out on top 82-69.

Masen Miller scored 26 points to lead the Bulldogs, one shy of his career high set earlier this season. Elijah Hazekamp and Hunter Strait tied for the team lead with seven rebounds while Strait led with three assists.

In the first half, Truman had a 5-4 lead early. Miller scored the first five points for the Bulldogs, and later in the half drilled another of his six threes to put Truman up 13-9. Dylan Peeters made a layup to push the lead to six points at 15-9. At the 10:54 mark of the half Hazekamp completed a three point play to make it 20-16 Truman, but from there SBU controlled the rest of the half and eventually expanded their lead to double digits at the very end of the half to lead 42-32 at the break.

SBU continued to expand their lead early in the second half to lead by 15 at 49-34. But Truman answered with a 15-0 run, started by a three from Miller, with six points from Eric Northweather and then capped by a three pointer from Hazekamp to tie the game at 49 with 12:32 left in the half. SBU answered with a 10-0 spurt, and from there held the Bulldogs off for the rest of the game.

Truman now looks to bounce back as they finish out the regular season at Rockhurst Saturday afternoon and then host the first round of the GLVC Tournament on Monday night.