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East Central (8-4, 4-2 GAC) at SWOSU (8-4, 4-2 GAC) Thursday, January 14, 7:30 pm Weatherford, Okla. (Pioneer Cellular Event Center) Live Stats  |  Watch Live  |  Live Audio SWOSU Game Notes (pdf)

Setting the Stage
- Back-to-back defeats have dropped SWOSU from first place in the Great American Conference standings and into a four-way tie for second in the league at 4-2
- The Bulldogs face one of the teams they are tied with on Thursday evening when they host East Central at 7:30 pm inside the Pioneer Cellular Event Center
- SWOSU is 5-4 on their home court this season, but they have dropped three of their last four games overall and at home to fall to 8-4 overall for the year
- East Central enters the showdown with a mirroring record of 8-4 (4-2 GAC), which includes a 3-1 record in true road games and a 4-2 mark overall away from home
- SWOSU has won the last four meetings in the series and all four meetings in Weatherford between the teams as Great American Conference foes
- East Central has won three of their last four games, all at home, and Thursday will be their first true road game in nearly one full month
- The Bulldogs are entering a one-week stretch that will see them play four games in seven days against in-state conference foes
 
The Opponent
East Central (8-4, 4-2 GAC)
- Now tied with SWOSU and two other teams for second in the league standings after defeating Arkansas Tech last Saturday
- Highest-scoring team in the GAC, averaging 84.0 points per game while allowing 79.8 points per game for a scoring marging of +4.2, the third-best mark in the league
- Also one of the top shooting teams in the conference, ranking second in field goal percentage (46.5%), third in free throw percentage (72.0%) and sixth in three-point percentage (36.1%)
- Five different players have 20 or more assists on the year, helping ECU rank second in the league with an average of 15.9 assists per game
- Tiger point guard Stirling Thomas is a two-time GAC Player of the Week and the league's leading scorer with an average of 22.5 points per game
- ECU's Ishmale Donzo and Aly Hudgins are both shooting better than 63% from the field and the rank first and second, respectively, in the league in field goal percentage
- Braxton Reeves is ECU's second-leading scorer with an avearge of 15.1 points per game while Donzo chips in an even 10.0 points per contest
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Bob Battisti (41-27, 3rd season; 450-323 career, 27th season)
- In his third season as the head coach of the Bulldogs, having led SWOSU to back-to-back winning seasons in his first two years at the helm
- Has coached three players at SWOSU that earned All-GAC distinction, including one GAC Player of the Year and one GAC Defensive Player of the Year
- 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 26 years as a head coach, Battisti has a career record of 450-323 (.585) and he is 4-0 against East Central while coaching the Bulldogs
 
East Central: Ja Havens (44-26, 5th season)
- Returned to his home state as the sixth head coach of the East Central men's basketball team in April of 2013
- Has posted back-to-back winning seasons for the Tigers, including a 20-win season and GAC Tournament championship game appearance in 2014-15
- Previously spent eight seasons as the assistant coach at Drury, where he was a part of the 2013 NCAA Division II National Championship squad
- Played basketball at St. Gregory's and Northeastern State, where he started his coaching career as a graduate assistant before moving on to Tulsa as an assistant coach
 
The Series
GAC History Only
      Date                Location                            Score             
      *1/23/2012       Weatherford, Okla.           W 73-50
      *2/20/2012       Ada, Okla.                         W 82-81 (OT)
      *1/12/2013       Weatherford, Okla.           W 64-61
      *2/14/2013       Ada, Okla.                         L 61-72
      *1/11/2014       Ada, Okla.                         W 55-43
      *2/13/2014       Weatherford, Okla.           W 80-65
      *12/4/2014       Ada, Okla.                         W 58-57
      *1/31/2015       Weatherford, Okla.           W 78-66
*GAC Conference Meeting
 
Last Time Out
- After taking a 41-39 lead to the break, SWOSU was limited to 21 points on 32% shooting in the second half as they suffered their second straight setback, 73-62 against Ouachita last Saturday
- The Bulldogs turned the ball over 11 times and allowed Ouachita to score 22 points in the paint after the break
- Markeise Champion led SWOSU with 20 points and six rebounds while Martell Collins added 18 points, all scored in the first half
 
SWOSU Notes
- SWOSU has seen their season scoring average drop nearly four points over the last two games, which have been the two lowest-scoring games by the Bulldogs this season
- The Bulldogs have dropped to seventh in the GAC in scoring with a 74.7-point per game average and their scoring margin of +3.1 ranks fifth
- SWOSU had a season-low six assists on 20 made field goal attempts against Ouachita Baptist, which is less than half of their 12.5 assist per game average for the year
- Martell Collins continued his double-figure scoring streak against Ouachita with 18 points and he now averages a team-leading 15.2 points per contest
- Markeise Champion is averaging 17.3 points per game over the past three games since entering the starting lineup, upping his season average to 15.1 points per game
- Luke Lewallen made the first start of his career against Ouachita and scored seven points with two steals in a career-high 28 minutes
- SWOSU leads the Great American Conference with 53 blocked shots (4.4/game) this season behind Ayo Ojo (18), Emeche Wells (11) and Juwan Newmen (10)
- Wells leads the Great American Conference with 25 steals and he's the team's third-leading scorer at 12.1 points per game
 
Looking Ahead
- SWOSU will play four games in the next seven days, with just one day off before a visit to Southern Nazarene on Saturday
- Next week's schedule begins with a rivalry home game against Northwestern Oklahoma State before a trip to Durant to face Southeastern Oklahoma State next Wednesday