RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – SWOSU Men's Basketball fell to Arkansas Tech 84-67 on Thursday night to open the GAC schedule with a loss.
Devin Pugh led the way for the Bulldogs, scoring a team high 21 points in the game.
SWOSU had a better shooting percentage on the night, ending the game shooting 37 percent as a team compared to Tech's 30 percent. The difference though, was the Wonder Boys knocked down eight more total shots than the Dawgs, on 32-70 total shooting compared to 24-65 from the Bulldogs. Tech outrebounded SWOSU 48-35 and scored 16 points off of 15 Bulldog turnovers.
In the first half, the Dawgs dug themselves multiple 10-point holes, but responding every time with a small run to get back within one or two possessions. Just before intermission,
Nick Shoemaker knocked down a three pointer that cut the SWOSU deficit to two and trailed just 35-33 going into the locker room.
With 7:08 left in the second half, Pugh hit a jumper that put the Dawgs within three at 66-63 and capped off an 8-0 run. The Wonder Boys responded however, hitting a pair of free throws following a foul and back-to-back threes to put Tech back ahead by double digits. Pugh would hit another three with 4:12 remaining in the half, but that would be the final bucket SWOSU would collect, as ATU scored the final seven points of the game to beat SWOSU 84-67.
Pugh scored 21 points in the game on 5-9 shooting from the three-point line and 8-15 overall.
Markeise Champion added 13 points of his own, playing in every minute but one in the game. Shoemaker did all of his damage from deep, netting nine points on 3-9 from three-point land.
Altez Davis was the top rebounded for the Dawgs, grabbing 10 boards and scoring six points but fouling out in the process.
The loss drops the Bulldogs to 0-3 on the season including 0-1 in GAC play. SWOSU will look to gain their first win Saturday on the road against Harding at 6 pm.
