Setting the Stage
The SWOSU basketball team will bid farewell to their home of 57 years on Saturday afternoon as the Bulldogs play their final game at historic Rankin Williams Fieldhouse against Ouachita Baptist. Winners of four straight games, the Bulldogs will look to continue putting distance between themselves and the field in the GAC with a win over a Ouachita Baptist team that is 5-8 on the year.
OBU has won two straight games, defeating Harding and Northwestern Oklahoma State, after opening up conference play with five consecutive losses. SWOSU and OBU split the season series last season, with each team winning on their home court.
The Coaches
Bob Battisti is the 14th head men's basketball coach in SWOSU history and in his first season on the Bulldogs sidelines. He most recently spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Oklahoma Christian University where he helped the program its first postseason basketball title in 30 years. Prior to his stint at OCU, Battisti spent 25 years at Northwestern Oklahoma State, coaching the men's basketball team for 21 seasons before taking over as the school's athletic director for four years. In more than 24 years as a head coach, Battisti has a career record of 418-300.
Dennis Nutt is in his third season as the head coach at Ouachita Baptist, where he has gone 38-34 since the start of the 2011-12 season. He also spent six seasons as the head coach at Texas State where he went 72-96 from 2000-06.
Last Time Out
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.
Last Time vs. Ouachita Baptist (February 23, 2013)
The Southwestern Oklahoma State University men's basketball team picked up a needed 75-63 victory over Ouachita Baptist on Saturday afternoon at Rankin Williams Fieldhouse.
The SWOSU offense, which had not scored more than 61 points during a three-game losing skid, put together one its top performances in league play, scoring 75 points and shooting 46.5% (20-43) from the field and 73.2% from the free throw line, where they converted an astounding 30-of-41 attempts.
Thomas Davis put together one of his top offensive performances of the season to lead SWOSU with 19 points. In his return to the starting lineup, Davis also recorded four rebounds, two assists and one blocked shot in 31 minutes of action.
Rod Camphor and
Kenyan Borders both joined Davis in double figures and did so by converting on their free throw attempts. Camphor scored 18 points on 4-8 shooting and he hit 9-11 free throw attempts. He also hit two crucial shots in the second half as the shot clock was winding down against the Bulldogs. Borders hit just one field goal, out of three attempted, but knocked down 9-10 free throws to finish with 11 points.
Ouachita Baptist, falling to 13-10 (9-8 GAC) on the year with the loss, got 17 points from Colt Fason and 15 from Austin Mitchell in the loss.
Checking the Standings
SWOSU remains the hottest team in the Great American Conference and the top team in the standings as they ride a four-game win streak into Saturday's matchup with Ouachita Baptist. The Bulldogs are 6-1 in conference action, one game ahead of Arkansas Tech and two games ahead of the rest of the field. Ouachita Baptist is one of four teams tied for seventh in the GAC at 2-5, along with Southern Arkansas, Henderson State and Southeastern Oklahoma State.
Farewell to Rankin
While the SWOSU Classic back in November was billed as our 'Farewell to Rankin,' Saturday afternoon's doubleheader against Ouachita Baptist will be the final home games for the Bulldog basketball teams inside of Rankin Williams Fieldhouse.
Rankin Williams Fieldhouse has been the home of SWOSU basketball since 1957, seeing many conference championships and five Lady Bulldog NAIA National Championship teams. The Fieldhouse is named for J. Rankin Williams, the winningest men's basketball coach in Southwestern Oklahoma State University history. Williams coached the Bulldogs for 36 seasons between 1927 and 1964, winning 524 career games.
In 1975, the SWOSU Health and Physical Education Building was named for Williams by the Board of Regents of Oklahoma Colleges. In 2007, the court was named in honor of SWOSU legend and current Associate Athletic Director
Kelli Litsch, a former four-time NAIA All-American and three-time winner of the NAIA National Tournament MVP.
The new Pioneer Cellular Event Center will take the place of Rankin, starting with the West Central Basketball Tournament that starts next Monday, January 20. The SWOSU men's and women's basketball teams will play their opening games in the Pioneer Center next Saturday, January 25, when Northwestern Oklahoma State comes to Weatherford for a 5:30 and 7:30 pm doubleheader.
Scouting the Opponent
As the defending GAC Tournament Champions, Ouachita Baptist entered the 2013-14 with high expectations and a fifth-place selection in the preseason poll. The Tigers started the season 2-0 before dropping eight of their next nine games, including their first five GAC contests. OBU has since reeled off back-to-back victories to improve to 5-8 on the year and 2-5 in conference action.
Leading the way for OBU is a pair of juniors, Micah Delph and Colt Fason, who rank among the best in the conference in multiple categories. Fason is averaging a team-best 16.6 points per game while leading the GAC in rebounding with 8.8 boards per game while Delph is averaging 14.3 points per game and ranks second in the conference with 36 made three-point field goals after dropping 10 in a 36-point effort against Northwestern Oklahoma State on Thursday.
Quick Hits
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Rod Camphor responded from his lowest scoring output of the season with 23 points on 6-of-9 shooting against Henderson State
- SWOSU is 3-1 this season when outrebounding their opponent
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Trent Washington is averaging 15.0 points per game coming off the bench in the past four games
- As a team, the Bulldogs have connected on at least six three-pointers in each of the last six games
- SWOSU is the No. 2 free throw shooting team in the GAC, hitting 72.5% (240-of-331) of their attempts
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Michael Bradley and
Gary Inglett each had three blocked shots against Henderson State, helping SWOSU tie a season-best with seven blocks as a team
Looking Ahead
A roadtrip Southern Nazarene awaits the Bulldogs on Thursday before they return to Weatherford to open up the Pioneer Cellular Event Center against Northwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday.
