The men’s basketball team sought revenge against the University of St. Mary Tuesday when it traveled to Leavenworth to take on the Spires for the second time in one week.

After a Nov. 4 heart-breaking 77-79 loss, the Wildcats turned around and crushed the Spires 98-81.

Six Wildcats were in double figures, while the team shot 63 percent from the field.

Senior Justin Houser led the team with 24 points, while senior Heath Baird laid in 19.

Houser said the team will be a huge threat in its upcoming games because of its ability to spread the work evenly.

“Everybody is capable of scoring,” Houser said. “We don’t just rely on one person.”

Junior transfers Malcolm Greer and Brock Entner helped rack up the points, adding 17 and 10 points, respectively.

“This week we ran the fast break a little bit more than we did last week, and we slowed down and took some better shots,” Greer said.

Seniors Nick Iversen and Brett Shaw recorded 16 and 11 points, respectively.

Head coach Rick Weaver said the team bounced back from the game before and started shooting the ball well.

“We made our free throws,” he said. “With six guys in double figures, we had a balanced scoring attack.”

Part of the Wildcats’ success was attributed to the changes made in defense, Greer said.  After watching film during the week, the team was able to hold the Spires’ Carvelle Taylor to only eight points.  In the game before, Taylor dropped 30.

“We looked at what his strong points were during our film sessions, and we worked all week to shut all their strong points down and keep the ball out of his hands,” Greer said.

Even with the victory, Weaver said the team needs to cut down on turnovers, as it had 30 in Tuesday’s game and 23 on Nov. 4.

“We still had too many turnovers, but it was a good win against a solid ball club, especially on the road,” he said.

The ‘Cats will travel Friday to play Ottawa University in the Ottawa Classic. Tip off is 6 p.m.

Greer said the week of preparation has been spent working on the offense.