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East Central (14-5, 8-3 GAC) at SWOSU (10-8, 4-7 GAC) Saturday, January 31, 3:00 pm Weatherford, Okla. (Pioneer Cellular Event Center) Live Stats  |  Watch Live  |  Live Audio SWOSU Game Notes (pdf)

Setting the Stage
- After playing four straight games on the road, the SWOSU Basketball team returns to their home court, where they will play seven of their final nine games to close out the season, beginning on Saturday afternoon against East Central
- The Bulldogs will be seeking a season sweep of the Tigers after earning a 58-57 win at East Central in December on a late three-pointer by Kenyan Borders
- SWOSU has dropped two straight road games, falling to 4-7 in league play with nine games remaining on the conference schedule
- In seven previous home games, the Bulldogs are 4-3 at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center and 6-4 in true road games this season
- A SWOSU victory would give them a season sweep of East Central for the second straight season
 
The Opponent
East Central (14-5, 8-3 GAC)
- Winners of three straight games and nine of their last 11 games since the first meeting between the two teams on December 4
- Have a record of 5-1 on the road, with their only road defeat at Harding earlier this month
- One-half game out of first place in the GAC standings at 8-3, trailing Ouachita Baptist and Southern Arkansas
- Led in scoring by Stirling Thomas, the GAC's second-leading scorer with an average of 19.6 points per game
- As a team, the Tigers lead the conference in scoring (79.7 ppg) while ranking second in scoring margin with an average victory margin of 9.3 ppg
- Also ranked first in the GAC in field goal percentage (49.2%) and three-point field goal percentage (39.6%) while sitting fifth in free throw percentage (68.8%)
- Other top scorers are Henry Pwono (15.8 ppg) and Braxton Reeves (13.3 ppg) with Pwono the third-leading rebounder in the GAC at 8.5 rebounds per game
- Three different players have earned GAC Player of the Week honors this season, including Reeves, who is defending his award this week
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Bob Battisti (27-18, 2nd season; 436-314 career, 26th season)
- Bob Battisti was named the 14th head men's basketball coach in SWOSU history prior to last season after spending two seasons as an assistant coach at Oklahoma Christian University
- Led the Bulldogs to a 17-10 record in his first season, marking a five-win improvement from the previous season
- Three players earned All-GAC distinction in Battisti's first season at SWOSU
- SWOSU committed the fewest turnovers in NCAA Division II in Battisti's first season with 243, an average of just 9.0 per game
- Previously 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
- In 25 years as a head coach, Battisti has a career record of 436-314 (.583), including a 3-0 record against the East Central as SWOSU's head coach
 
ECU: Ja Havens (29-17, 2nd season)
- Became the sixth head coach in East Central men's basketball history in April 2013 after eight seasons as an assistant coach at Drury
- Made an immediate impact, leading ECU to a 15-12 mark and the program's first winning season since 2007-08 in his first year, a win improvement of seven games from the 2012-13 season
- Played at Northeastern State and has previous coaching experience at St. Gregory's and Tulsa
 
Last Time Out
- Trent Washington tied a season-high with 20 points but no other Bulldogs reached double figures in a 71-57 setback at Southern Nazarene on Thursday night
- The loss is the second consecutive road setback for the Bulldogs and gives SNU the season sweep of SWOSU
- SNU used a 14-0 run in the first half to take a 39-27 lead at halftime before SWOSU got within four early in the second half
- SNU hit 48.1% from the field compared to 35.3% (19-54) for the Bulldogs, who were also just 6-of-21 from 3-point range
- Martell Collins was one point shy of a double-double, finishing with nine points and 14 rebounds while Kenyan Borders matched Collins with nine points
 
Checking the Standings
- Thursday's defeat drops SWOSU to 4-7 in league play and into ninth place in the Great American Conference standings
- The Bulldogs are one-half game behind a trio of teams (SNU, Arkansas Tech, Henderson State) at 5-7 and one-half game ahead of Northwestern Oklahoma State
- Ouachita Baptist and Southern Arkansas remain atop the standings at 9-3 with East Central one game behind in the win column at 8-3
- Harding is the only other team above .500 in the conference standings while Southeastern Oklahoma State is an even 6-6 in league games
 
SWOSU Notes
- Trent Washington matched his season-high with 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting on Thursday as he returned to the starting lineup for the first time in five games
- Martell Collins upped his GAC-leading rebounding average to 9.4 per game with 14 boards against SNU, his second-highest rebounding total this season
- Collins leads the Bulldogs with an average of 17.4 points per game and he's the only player in the GAC that ranks in the top five in both scoring and rebounding
- Ayo Ojo grabbed eight rebounds against SNU, his fifth straight game with at least eight boards, but was limited to just five points on 1-of-2 shooting
- Emeche Wells came off the bench for the first time all season against the Crimson Storm, scoring five points on 1-of-4 shooting in 27 minutes of action
- Richard McCalop started in place of wells, but was also limited to just five points on 1-of-4 shooting from the field
- SWOSU connected on just 13-of-28 (46.4%) free throws against Southern Nazarene, their worst shooting from the stripe this season
 
Looking Ahead
- The long-awaited home stand for the Bulldogs is here, with three straight home games scheduled and seven of their final nine to be played in Weatherford
- Next week, SWOSU welcomes Arkansas Tech (Thursday) and Harding (Saturday) to the Pioneer Cellular Event Center for conference action