Box Score (html)
WEATHERFORD, Okla. – SWOSU Men's Basketball built a 20-point halftime lead, then upped it to 22 early in the second before Arkansas-Monticello stormed back and nailed a deep three-pointer with 3.4 seconds remaining to hand the Bulldogs a 79-78 defeat on Thursday evening at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center.
The Bulldogs offense was clicking in the early going as SWOSU made 10 three-pointers in the first half and shot 54.3% (19-of-35) from the field in the period to build a 50-30 lead at the break behind 11 points from
Dominique Lubin and 10 each from
Markeise Champion and
Daniel Eibel.
Nick Shoemaker nailed a three-pointer in the opening minute of the second half, making it a 53-31 advantage for the Bulldogs, but that would be SWOSU's only basket of the first seven minutes of the second half, allowing UAM to get within six at 53-47 before Lubin hit a three to end the draught. The Boll Weevils slowly whittled away the Dawgs lead, getting within a point at 56-55 before Champion had a three-point answer that pushed it back to four points at 59-55.
UAM managed to even the score at 63-all on a second-chance basket with 7:31 remaining, but again it was Champion with the answer basket to put the Dawgs back up by three. The Weevils again tied the score at 68-68 on a pair of free throws with just under six minutes to play and they took their first lead of the second half on their next possession before a basket by
Rashon Thomas again knotted the score at 70-70.
After UAM scored to go up 72-70, Champion had another answer basket with a three at the 3:26 mark, which Lubin followed with a free throw before another Champion lay-in made it a four-point advantage for SWOSU at 76-72 with 2:33 to play.
Reshardd Harris hit one-of-two free throws with 1:39 remaining to make it a three-point game, 77-74, which is what the score would remain until the final 20 seconds. UAM scored on a layup with 18 seconds remaining to make it 77-76 with SWOSU in possession on the far baseline. The teams then traded turnovers in the span of less than four seconds before Shoemaker was fouled and put on the line with 11 seconds to play in a one-point game. After his first effort rimmed off, Shoemaker buried his second attempt to put SWOSU up 78-76 in the closing moments.
With one last chance, UAM's Code Goosby dribbled up and handed the ball off to Karim Mawuenyega, who faced up from the Pioneer Cellular logo and launched a deep three pointer that gave the Weevils a 79-78 lead with 3.4 seconds to play.
Devin Pugh got one last heave for the Bulldogs, but it was off the mark as the buzzer sounded and denied the Dawgs of their first victory of the season.
SWOSU had a tremendous advantage from long range, hitting a season-high 15 three-pointers while shooting 40.9% from the field and 38.5% from downtown. At the defensive end, the Dawgs limited UAM to 2-of-16 (12.5%) shooting from long range, but the Weevils made up for it at the free throw line, where they more than doubled the Bulldogs in attempts.
Markeise Champion scored a team-high 21 points with four assists, two steals and two rebounds to lead the Bulldogs on Thursday night.
Dominique Lubin poured in a career-high 17 points with nine rebounds while making his first career start and
Daniel Eibel chipped in 10 points, all in the first half.
"I was proud of our guys tonight, we fought for 40 minutes," SWOSU Head Coach
Bob Battisti said. "But getting wins in conference play isn't easy and we didn't make enough plays to win the game. You have to credit Monticello because they made the winning plays."
The tough setback drops the Bulldogs to 0-6 (0-3 GAC) on the year with a return trip to Rankin Williams Fieldhouse on tap for Saturday's GAC matchup against Southern Arkansas.
