Box Score (html)
WEATHERFORD, Okla. – SWOSU Men's Basketball lost to Harding 83-76 Thursday night despite
Markeise Champion's career scoring night. The senior managed to put up 35 points against the Bison who rank second in the Great American Conference in scoring defense.
SWOSU trailed the Bisons 40-37 heading into the locker room for halftime after shooting 37% from the field on 14-of-37 shooting. Champion kept the Dawgs in the game with his 20 first-half points including hitting 4 shots from beyond the arc. The thee ball carried Harding in the first 20 minutes, as HU went 10-21 (48%) from deep to account for a majority of their first-half points.
Harding once again outscored SWOSU in the second half, edging the Dawgs by four points in the scoring category. The Bulldogs' comeback margin hovered anywhere from 10 points with 6:22 left to play all the down to only three, as they managed to cut the lead down to one possession with :48 seconds left after Champion created his own shot and netted a three pointer home. After fouling in attempts to extend the game, Harding took advantage of the free shots and pushed their lead back to seven before the clock struck zeros as no other scramble shot would fall for SWOSU.
Rebounding was one of the bright spots for the Bulldogs, winning 48-34 on the boards in the contest including 13 offensive rebounds that led to 12 second-chance points.
Dominique Lubin and
Collin Jennings both grabbed career-high rebounds, ending with 16 and 10 respectively.
Champion had a career night in the scoring category. He finished with 35 points, tying for sixth in SWOSU's D2 era history. The 35 he scored was the most a Bulldog has put up since Rod Camphor's 36 against Arkansas-Monticello back in the 2013 GAC Tournament. Champion also shot 9-for-19 (47%) from three, tying the SWOSU mark for most threes in a game.
The Bulldogs (5-12, 2-9) will now turn their attention to Saturday when they welcome Arkansas Tech to the Pioneer Cellular Event Center for an afternoon game starting at 1:00 pm. The game will be featured as the D2 Showcase National Game of the Week and will be aired on the American Sports Network.
