The Bears knew that they would be tested Thursday in their Region 23 opening-round game against East Central. And after a bit of a slow start for Southwest, the Bears, unfortunately, couldn't fully recover against the Warriors, falling 77-68, thus ending their season.
 
"I'm just disappointed," Southwest head coach Corey Schmidt said. "They (East Central) came out ready to play."
 
Not long after the opening tip, the Bears (17-13) found themselves down by as much as 14 at the 13:30 mark as the visiting Warriors got established early.
 
But Southwest began to chip away at the deficit, reducing it down to as little as six with 7:47 to go in the first half following a 3-pointer from Robert Flantroy, making the score 27-21.
 
Even though the Bears couldn't pull any closer, they stayed within striking distance for the remainder of the first half, trailing 45-38 at the intermission.
 
In the early stages of the second half, Southwest lost momentum as East Central went on a run to build a 17-point advantage.
 
However, the Bears would not go away, piecing together a rally of their own going on a 15-6 run to narrow the gap to just eight at 65-57 with 7:34 remaining. Ten of the 15 points during the rally came via Tylik Weeks as the sophomore put the team on his back.

Down the stretch, the Bears continued to fight but could not slow down the Warrior attack as Southwest fell in the end.
 
Weeks led the Bears with 24 points while Fazl Oshodi poured in 17.