CLAREMORE, Okla.- The Rogers State men's basketball team registered a 77-53 victory over Hillsdale Baptist in the Hillcats home debut at the Claremore Expo on Thursday night.
 
RSU opened the second half with a 10-0 run to push the advantage to 46-26, never relinquishing the double-digit lead the rest of the way. Matt Lea put an exclamation on night with an emphatic, two-handed slam with under a minute to play, pushing the lead to 24 points, the largest advantage of the night.  
 
The Hillcats clung to a slim lead for most of the first stanza, taking their first double-digit lead of the contest with four minutes to play with a trey from J.C. Hartzler and a put back by Jeylyn Sharpe. The Saints chipped away at the deficit, cutting the advantage to five, but the Hillcats ended the half on a 6-2 run to take a 36-26 advantage into intermission.
 
Despite shooting 30 percent from behind the arc in the first frame, RSU capitalized on second-chance points with 11 and 20 points in the paint outscoring HFWB by a 20-8 margin
 
Three Hillcats finished with double digits scoring led by Frederico Santos with 14 boards and eight points. Hartzler followed with 13 points and Deran Banton added 10 points.
 
Rogers State (1-2) returns to action on Saturday as the Hillcats celebrate homecoming at the Claremore Expo against Arlington Baptist at 4 p.m. The game can be viewed live on the Hillcat Network at www.rsuhillcats.com/live.