Box Score (html)
WEATHERFORD, Okla. – SWOSU Men's Basketball had a chance to take their first lead over East Central in the final seconds, but
Devin Pugh's jump shot hit the rim, rolled around and then off, allowing the Tigers to escape from the Pioneer Cellular Event Center with an 89-88 victory on Thursday night.
The Bulldogs played from behind in both halves, overcoming a 14-point deficit in the first half before tying the game briefly and going to the break down 49-47. After halftime, ECU again built a 14-point advantage, going up 73-59 with 10:51 to play.
SWOSU valiantly fought back once again, slowly cutting into the deficit.
Devin Pugh made it an eight-point game with two free throws after the under-eight minute media timeout before the Bulldogs made it a four-point game when a lay-in from
Justin King set the score at 82-78 with 3:57 to play.
Nick Shoemaker cut it to a one-possession game with 2:53 on a three-pointer that made it 83-81, but ECU pushed their lead back to six, 87-81, with 1:22 to play.
The Dawgs again countered, getting two free throws from Pugh to cut it to 87-83, then a defensive stop combined with another basket from King cut it to 87-85 with less than 30 seconds to play. After two free throws by ECU,
Daniel Eibel got the Bulldogs back within one at 89-88 on a three-pointer from the corner with 10.4 seconds remaining.
Following a SWOSU timeout, the Bulldogs fouled East Central's Camron Talley, who missed two free throws with eight seconds remaining.
Luke Lewallen grabbed the rebound for SWOSU and Pugh pushed the ball up the court before hoisting a deep two-point attempt with less than two seconds to play. The shot landed on the rim and rolled all the way around before falling off as time expired.
SWOSU had four players reach double figures in scoring, led by 19 points from
Devin Pugh on 6-of-14 shooting from the field.
Justin King posted 16 points off the bench while
Daniel Eibel had 15, helping SWOSU outscored the East Central bench 39-to-30.
Collin Jennings stuffed the stat sheet, finishing with 12 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and three steals before fouling out in the final seconds.
The setback is the third straight for the Bulldogs, who are now 3-10 on the year while falling to 1-6 in Great American Conference play. Next up for SWOSU is a road trip to Durant on Saturday to face Southeastern Oklahoma State in a game that will tip off at 3:00 pm.
