Matt Rogers' contributions Thursday amounted to the all-everything center getting down on his hands and knees to wipe up sweat on the Municipal Auditorium floor during a timeout.

The 6-foot-11 junior missed fourth-ranked and top-seeded Baptist's first-round meeting with Western on Thursday because of mono. He still made the trip from Bolivar to Kansas City and sat on the end up the bench in street clothes.

And it's amazing how average the Bearcats look without their star center. The Griffons went from intimidated perimeter shooters in a loss at Baptist last Saturday to driving the lane with impunity Thursday. Rogers covers up for Baptist's guards, who, it turns out, aren't all that quick laterally.

Interestingly, Western tried to implement a new, spread offense Monday and ultimately scrapped it. But with Rogers out, the Griffons decided to give it a test drive Thursday, and it worked brilliantly in the first half. Marcus Rhodes and Lonnel Johnson seemed to get to the rim at will with everyone standing around the arc.

Down 21, Baptist coach Jeff Guiot resorted to a full-court press. Western handled Missouri Southern's press in both meetings this year but struggled mightily Thursday with Baptist's pressure. The press is what made this the first game the the best of the afternoon session. When the Bearcats cut the deficit to single digits, the Griffons tightened up, and it looked for all the world like Baptist would avoid the upset.Free-throw shooting has cost the Griffons all season, and for the first time I can remember this year, Western won because of its showing at the foul line.

Outside of Rogers, it's not as if everything went Western's way in this game. Baptist attempted 22 more free throws and won the offensive rebounding battle 19-6. But the Griffons got to the rim early and often and pumped up that shooting percentage with a bevy of layups.

Coach Tom Smith and assistant Mike Nicholson embraced after the Griffons held off Baptist in the closing seconds, and you could tell Smith has missed all of this. In the postgame press conference, the Western coach was in top form, quipping, “I think in the next game I would like them to use the regular clock instead of the hour glass.”

When asked if Western was fortunate to have faced Baptist without Rogers, Smith joked, “Were we fortunate? You have to remember we played without Luke Anderson. We felt it was even.”

For the record, Anderson has no points, five rebounds and one block all season. Rogers averages 18.9, 8.7 and 4.1. Good times.

And apparently, doctors told Rogers had he played, he risked rupturing his spleen. No word on what dangers wiping up floors poses to the spleen. Three thoughts to close.

--- Griffon fans, get excited about the senior season of Marcus Rhodes. The junior is Western's best all-around player and has gotten leaps and bounds better in just two months. He is tough, gets to the basket, defends and is developing into a leader.

---- Dominique Thuston has kind of been the opposite of Rhodes. On Thursday, Baptist center Johnnie Harris guarded Thuston, and Western's sophomore wing refused to take the bigger, slower player off the dribble. Thuston only tried to drive once. Perplexing.

--- And finally, a controversial call cost Western the upset when Baptist came to St. Joseph in January. But Thursday the Griffons got lucky a couple of times with obvious travels in the final 10 minutes. Both possessions ended in baskets for Western in a game in a one-point game. Some karma, I guess.