CANYON, Texas – Bulldog Basketball looked in sync all evening against Eastern New Mexico and went on to win 99-82 on day one of the Pak-A-Sak Thanksgiving Classic.

The offense was clicking from the opening tipoff, as the Dawgs used efficient ball movement and selfless scoring to grow their lead in the first half. SWOSU led by double digits as early as the 14:46 mark thanks to an 18-3 run that saw six different Bulldogs score during the spurt.

Leading 20-7 about five minutes in the game, both teams traded baskets until SWOSU again pieced together another scoring run that started at the 9:00 mark, this time an 11-0 streak, that pushed their lead to 23. At halftime, SWOSU led 53-33.

Out of the halftime locker room, the game stayed in favor of the Bulldogs who would go on to lead by as many as 33 points. Eastern New Mexico was able to chip away at the large deficit by taking advantage of a pair of offensive dry spells, but the Dawgs managed to halt the negative momentum and keep the score in their favor.

That 33-point lead was shrunk to as few as 10 points with 1:44 to go in the game, but never managed to make its way into single digits thanks to timely answers by SWOSU.

SWOSU had nine separate scorers in the contest, led by double-digit outputs from Tanner Meraz (22), Chris Braggs, Jr. (19), Kamden Gipson (16) and Mark Berry (12).

DeAngelo Adkins did not eclipse double digits in scoring but grabbed a team best 11 rebounds and added seven points. Meraz and Gipson both finished with three assists apiece.

For the game, SWOSU shot 46% (32-of-69) as a team overall and 41% from three-point land thanks to 15-for-37 from beyond the arc. Before that late second half dry spell, the Bulldogs were shooting over 50% in both categories.

There will be no time to rest as the Bulldogs (1-2) will look to build off their first win of the season when they take on #6/7 West Texas A&M tomorrow at 5pm.