CLAREMORE, Okla. - Rogers State pulled away late in the first half and never looked back as the Hillcats claimed a historic first win, 93-72 over Tabor College in front of 1,126 fans at the Claremore Expo on Thursday night.
 

After Tabor opened the scoring with 18:39 to play in the first half Roderick Rodgers answered with the first bucket of the season for RSU to knot things up at 2-2. The two teams traded baskets in the early going before an 11-0 Hillcat run made it 25-15 with 8:30 to play in the half. Freshman Chris Francis came off the bench to score five consecutive points and spark the run. RSU padded its lead from that point and held a 46-27 advantage at half time.
 

It was more of the same in the second frame as the Cats opened the half on an 18-5 run capped by a Bryson Krueger slam with 14:50 to play in the game. Kyle Kroeker finally silenced the rally with a three point basket in transition for Tabor, but by that point the game was out of reach at 64-36.
 

Kreuger led the Hillcats with 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Rodgers added 18 points and eight rebounds while Aldric Reynolds and Sylvester Spicer each contributed 11 points. The Hillcats outrebounded the Bluejays 43-to-26 and picked up 14 steals to Tabor's one. Aaron Whitelaw poured in 20 second half points to keep the margin respectable for Tabor. He finished the night with 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting.
 

"I feel like we still have a lot of areas to improve in but at the end of the day both our teams (men's and women's) are 1-0 and this is a great day for Rogers State University," said Wren Baker, RSU head men's basketball coach and athletic director.
 

The win marked the first victory of Baker's young career as a head coach. The Hillcats will have little time to rest before taking on Bethany College on Saturday as part of RSU's Homecoming festivities. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. and the game can be heard live on RSU Radio 91.3 FM. Thursday's game will be broadcast in tape delay on RSU Public Television (Cox Cable Channel 19 in Claremore) on Friday evening at 10 p.m.