Matthew Stilwill was nearly perfect in the Briar Cliff men's basketball win over Mount Marty Wednesday night. The junior guard poured in a career best 26 points on 10-for-13 shooting, 2-for-3 from deep and 4-of-5 from the free throw line. He also recorded three steals, two rebounds and had zero turnovers.
 
"Proud of the toughness the guys showed tonight! It's hard to win on the road in the GPAC and we battled through some adversity to get the W," said head coach Mark Svagera. "Matt Stilwill really lifted us off the bench with his scoring. It was a great team win and great step forward for us."
 
After an 8-0 run to start the game, Mount Marty held onto the lead for the first 15 minutes of the contest. The Chargers took their first lead of the night with 4:27 left in the half off a 3-pointer from Quinn Vesey. With a 36-32 edge with a minute to go, the Chargers gave up back-to-back buckets to Tash Landley and the two teams went to half tied at 36.
 
Stilwill led the way with 10 points in his 11 minutes off the bench. Kyle Boerhave added seven and Conner Groves had six off two 3-pointers. BC shot 43.8% from the floor and knocked down six 3-pointers.
 
Lunday poured in 19 first-half points to lead Mount Marty. The Lancers were a perfect 9-for-9 from the free throw line in the opening 20 minutes.
 
The Lancers raced out to a 50-38 lead after a 14-2 run to start the second half. However, the Chargers weathered the storm and began to chip away at the Mount Marty lead.
 
Trailling 50-57 with 12 minutes remaining, Stilwill dominated the next two minutes of play, scoring all nine points in a 9-2 BC run that tied the game. After a Mount Marty bucket to go up one, the lead changed hands for the final time with Groves scoring 10 straight points for the Cliff.
 
Groves scored 16 points, dished out five assists and had four treys. Boerhave added 13 points and four rebounds, while Jaden Kleinhesselink had 12 points, five boards and three assists.
 
BC shot 49.2% from the field and knocked down double-digit 3-pointers for the third time this season. The Chargers had the edge in points off turnovers (18-6), second chance points (14-6) and bench points (36-7).
 
Briar Cliff is back in the Newman Flanagan Center Saturday at 3:00 p.m. for a nonconference meeting with Benedictine.