Box Score BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – SWOSU's Cinderella run came to an end in the semifinals of the Great American Conference Tournament at the hands of Arkansas Tech. The Bulldogs fell 85-74 to the Wonder Boys on Saturday night.
Martell Collins capped his debut season with the Dawgs by recording his first double-double in the GAC Tournament. He poured in 24 points on 9-15 shooting, including going 2-3 from long range, and grabbed 10 boards in 38 minutes.
Southwestern jumped out to an early lead thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers by
Trent Washington and Collins. All seven of SWOSU's opening shots came from beyond the arc, with Collins and Washington connecting on a pair each to give the Dawgs a 12-10 lead at the first media time out.
The lead would not last, however, as the Wonder Boys took a 14-12 lead at the 14:40 mark and would never surrender the lead. With seven minutes remaining on the clock, the Bulldogs had gone cold, not recording a basket in over three minutes of play as ATU pushed their lead into double digits at 33-18. SWOSU would eventually break out of their rut thanks to Collins and would go into the locker rooms facing a 38-30 deficit.
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Keyshawn Perkins' trey with 15:40 left in the game brought SWOSU within five points as the Dawgs outscored Arkansas Tech 14-11 in the first five minutes of the second half. That was as close as Southwestern would get, as another cold streak seized on the Bulldogs. The lead would balloon to as many as 17 points in the second half. With 43 seconds left in the game, Washington hit a three to reduce the lead to seven, but the late hole the SWOSU found itself in proved insurmountable.
"I'm so proud of our three seniors," SWOSU Coach Battisti said following the game. "They are the reason we were able to win 16 games this season and advance to the semifinals of the GAC Tournament. Kenyan, Trent and Jordan have set a standard of leadership and work ethic for our next group of seniors. I'm confident that we'll be back and we'll be better in the future."
Seniors Washington and
Kenyan Borders finished their final game in the blue-and-white with 14 and 13 points respectively. The duo also combined to grab seven rebounds while playing nearly the entire game. Borders also dished out a team-high four assists.
SWOSU ends the season with a 16-13 overall record. They will return all but three players from this year's squad for the 2015-16 season.
