Box Score
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WEATHERFORD, Okla. – After building a 26-4 lead to open the game, SWOSU had to hold off a furious second-half rally from Henderson State to defeat the Reddies 79-76 on Thursday night at Rankin Williams Fieldhouse.
Rod Camphor,
Kenyan Borders,
Gary Inglett and
Trent Washington combined to hit six three-pointers in the game's opening eight minutes as the Bulldogs raced out to a 22-point lead. The Reddies responded by holding SWOSU without a bucket for more than nine minutes as they outscored the Bulldogs 18-1 and got within four, 31-27, near the end of the first half.
The Bulldogs kept Henderson State at arm's length for most of the second half, but the Reddies did manage to take the lead once at 53-51 after a pair of free throws from Melvin Haynes. SWOSU quickly regained control of the ballgame, pushing the lead out to eight points with just over four minutes remaining.
The lead would stay above four points until the final seconds of the game when back-to-back three pointers by Henderson State got the Reddies within one at 77-76 with two seconds to play. Inglett hit a pair of three's to seal the game as Haynes' final deep ball was off the mark, allowing the Bulldogs to earn the conference victory.
Camphor led the Bulldogs with 23 points on 6-of-9 shooting while Inglett also reached the 20-point plateau and Washington came off the bench to score 15 points.
Michael Bradley also put in 11 points and blocked three shots to anchor the Bulldogs in the post.
"Our guys battled for 40 minutes," Coach
Bob Battisti said following his team's fourth consecutive victory. "Henderson State deserves a lot of credit, they played well and hit some tough shots but our guys are resilient and we gutted out that win."
With the victory, SWOSU strengthens their hold on the top spot in the Great American Conference standings. At 9-4 (6-1 GAC) on the year, the Bulldogs are one game ahead of Arkansas Tech and two games in the loss column ahead of each other GAC foe. The Bulldogs will welcome a Ouachita Baptist squad that has won two straight games to Rankin Williams Fieldhouse on Saturday for a 4:00 pm tipoff.
