Setting the Stage- Two teams with the longest current winning streaks in the Great American Conference meet on Thursday in Ada as SWOSU meets East Central at the Kerr Activities Center
- East Central earned a 77-65 victory over the Bulldogs last month in Weatherford, leaving SWOSU needing a victory to split the season series
- SWOSU has won four of the past five meetings in the series, including two straight in Ada, where they escaped with a come-from-behind 58-57 victory last season
- East Central has defended their home court well this season with a 9-2 record while SWOSU is 4-3 on the road, with all three losses coming during the month of January
- Heading into the week, the Bulldogs are sharing fourth place in the GAC standings with Southern Nazarene at 9-6, two games behind East Central and Harding who are tied for second
- ECU enters the game with a three-game winning streak, the current longest among conference teams after snapping Ouachita's 10-game streak last weekend
- SWOSU went 3-2 against their fellow Oklahoma schools during the first round of conference play, winning three straight against in-state foes after losses to East Central and SNU
The OpponentEast Central (15-6, 11-4 GAC)- Have won six straight games on their home court -- and three straight overall -- heading into Thursday's showdown and they're coming off a weekend sweep of Henderson State and Ouachita
- Highest-scoring team in the league, averaging 81.8 points per game while outscoring their opponents by 7.5 points per game, the second best scoring margin in the league
- Ranked second in the league in assists, averaging 15.2 per contest with an assist:turnover ratio of 1.2 that also ranks them second in the GAC
- Paced by Stirling Thomas, the GAC's leading scorer at 19.4 points per game, who has hit 58 three-pointers (2.8/game) this season
- Other top scoring threats are Braxton Reeves (15.1 points per game) and Ishmael Donzo (10.2 ppg), who als leads the team in rebounding with 7.3 boards per contest
The CoachesSWOSU: Bob Battisti (46-31, 3rd season; 455-327 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 455-327 (.582) and he is 4-1 against East Central as the head coach at SWOSU
East Central: Ja Havens (51-28, 3rd 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 SeriesGAC 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
*1/14/2016 Weatherford, Okla. L 65-77
*GAC Conference Meeting Last Time Out- SWOSU overcame an 11-point deficit in the second half on Saturday, defeating Southern Arkansas 71-69 on a step back three-pointer from
Martell Collins with 5.4 seconds to play
- Collins sparked the comeback with 24 second-half points, including the final seven points of the game as SWOSU, as he finished with 25 points and seven rebounds
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Collin Jennings had 13 points and five rebounds for SWOSU while
Markeise Champion added 11 points and
Juwan Newmen grabbed 11 rebounds
SWOSU Notes-
Martell Collins has now scored 20 points or more in seven of the last eight games, raising his scoring average to 18.4 points per game for the year and he leads the league with 20.1 points per game in conference games
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Markeise Champion ranks fifth in NCAA Division II with 75 made three-point field goals (3.57/game) this season and he's SWOSU's second-leading scorer at 15.3 points per game
- SWOSU ranks third in the league in field goal percentage defense (42.8%), but opponents are hitting 35.4% of their attempts from long range against the Dawgs
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Emeche Wells has recorded multiple steals in 14 games this season, ranking him 14th in the nation with 2.3 steals per game
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Collin Jennings has scored in double figures in back-to-back games for the first time since early December, averaging 14.5 points per game in two SWOSU wins last weekend
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Juwan Newmen is the league's third-leading rebounder and he has grabbed 11 rebounds in consecutive games, giving him seven double-digit rebound performances this season
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Luke Lewallen dished out a career-best five assists on Saturday against Southern Arkansas, giving him seven dimes in SWOSU's games last weekend, the same total he had combined in the first 19 games this season
Looking Ahead- SWOSU is back at home in the Pioneer Cellular Event Center to host Southern Nazarene for Hall of Fame weekend on Saturday at 1:00 pm
- Following that game, the Bulldogs conclude the season with four of their final five games away from home, starting next Monday at Northwestern Oklahoma State
