Box Score (html)
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – SWOSU shot the ball well to start each half against Arkansas Tech on Thursday, but it was the Wonder Boys who held off the Bulldogs for an 88-81 victory inside Tucker Coliseum in Russellville.
The Bulldogs came out of the gates on fire, hitting their first four field goal attempts to go up 11-4 after a jumper by
Charles Beauregard, Jr. less than three minutes into the game. The Bulldogs would push the lead to 10 at 17-7 with 12:35 to play before the break before an onslaught of three-pointers from Arkansas Tech allowed the Wonder Boys to outscore the Dawgs 41-17 the rest of the half and take a lead of 48-34 at the break.
SWOSU needed less than two minutes in the second half to cut the 14-point half deficit to five, forcing ATU to use a timeout with a
Daniel Eibel three-pointer that made it 48-43. The Bulldogs continued to battle, getting within one on two different occasions, the final time coming on an acrobatic fast-break alley-oop from Beauregard to
Devin Pugh that made it 57-56 with 13:47 to play.
From that point, Arkansas Tech used a 5-0 run to increase their lead and they would not allow SWOSU to get any closer than three points over the final 13-plus minutes of game time.
SWOSU had three players score in double figures, with two putting up better than 20 points. Pugh led the Bulldogs with 21 points and shared team-high honors with seven rebounds while Beauregard had 20 points and five rebounds before fouling out in the game's final minutes.
Nick Shoemaker was 3-for-7 from down town, finishing with 12 points and a career-high seven rebounds.
The setback extends the Bulldogs winless streak to six games, dating back to a season-opening victory over Lincoln, and SWOSU is now 0-3 in Great American Conference play. The Dawgs have a chance to get back in the win column on Saturday as they head to Searcy to face Harding at 3:00 pm.
