Box Score (html)
WEATHERFORD, Okla. – After falling behind by 12 points early in the second half, the SWOSU Men's Basketball team rallied to within five late in the game before falling to Lindenwood 77-68 in the season opener and first game of the SWOSU Classic on Friday night.
Markeise Champion paced the Bulldogs with 21 points, including 16 after the break in his first game in a SWOSU uniform, knocking down 4-of-6 three's in the second half as part of the Dawgs comeback. The Bulldogs shot 50.5% (16-of-32) after the break, but they were outdueled by the hot-shooting Lions, who connected on 15-of-23 (65.2%) field goal attempts in the second half and 28-of-54 (51.9%) for the game to keep their distance.
SWOSU led for just over four minutes in the first half before Lindenwood finished the half on a 13-4 run to take a 33-26 lead to the break. The Bulldogs would not regain the lead again, but they did get within four on two occasions early in the second half and late in the game after a pair of free throws from
Martell Collins.
Emeche Wells got SWOSU within five, 73-68, with just over one minute to play and the Bulldogs had possession with a chance to inch closer before a turnover ended SWOSU's chances of threatening the Lions.
Wells was SWOSU's second-leading scorer with 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting, which included knocking down 3-of-7 attempts from long range, while
Martell Collins added 12 points and five rebounds.
Juwan Newmen was the Bulldogs rebounding leader with six while Wells had a team-high five assists and three steals and
Ayo Ojo blocked two shots.
A much larger Lindenwood team outrebounded the Bulldogs 36-to-31, but SWOSU held an advantage in both assists (14-to-11) and steals (6-to-3). The difference in the game was the shooting of Lindenwood, who also connected on 17-of-18 free throw attempts.
"We stood in the middle of the ring with a heavyweight tonight," SWOSU Head Coach
Bob Battisti said following the first game of his third season coaching the Bulldogs. "What we found out about our team is that we can take a punch and tonight we punched back, which is what I was looking for. We can build off of our play tonight heading into our game tomorrow."
As Battisti mentioned, SWOSU gets right back into action on Saturday when they host Nebraska-Kearney in the finale of the SWOSU Classic. The Lopers are 1-0 after defeating Southern Nazarene 95-80 on Friday afternoon.
