Box Score (html)
WEATHERFORD, Okla. – SWOSU saw their four-game winning streak ended on Saturday as the Bulldogs fell to Southeastern Oklahoma State 83-73 on Senior Day at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center.
SWOSU took their only lead of the game at 2-0 as
Ayo Ojo scored the games' first basket 23 seconds into the game, but a 3-pointer by Kyle Roberts at 18:41 gave the lead to Southeastern and they would not relinquish it the entire game. SE built a lead as high as 13 in the first half before the Bulldogs got back within three on back-to-back 3-pointers from
Kenyan Borders in the final two minutes. The Savage Storm would rally to take a 43-37 lead to the break.
Southeastern quickly built their lead back up to 11 at 51-40 with 17:19 to play in the second half, but SWOSU answered with a 10-1 run to make it a two-point game after a pair of free throws from
Martell Collins. The Bulldog got within two on multiple occasions and a 3-pointer from Collins made it a one-point game at 58-57 with 10:49 to play, but SWOSU was unable to ever take the lead.
A phenomenal tip dunk from
Richard McCalop and a deep 3-pointer from
Emeche Wells got SWOSU back within two at 74-72 with 5:11 to play before the Savage Storm outscored the Bulldogs 9-1 after the final media timeout to preserve their road victory.
Wells led the Bulldog with a career-high 21 points on 6-of-16 shooting from the field.
Ayo Ojo added 14 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots, but he was limited to just 23 minutes after battling foul trouble all afternoon. Borders chipped in 14 points, including 4-of-6 3-point shooting in his final home game while Collins had 11 points and five rebounds off the bench.
"Give Southeastern credit, they came in here and took the fight to us," SWOSU Coach
Bob Battisti said. "While this isn't the way we wanted to end our regular season, I'm confident our guys will respond and come to play next week in the conference tournament. We've got to go back to work Monday and get ready for Ouachita Baptist, they're the conference champion for a reason so it's going to be a great test for us to see them in the first round."
SWOSU finishes the regular season 15-12 overall with a 9-11 mark in conference play. With the defeat, the Bulldogs are locked into the No. 8 seed in the upcoming Great American Conference Tournament, where they will face GAC Champion Ouachita Baptist at 5:45 pm on Friday evening in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
