WEATHERFORD – SWOSU Men's Basketball earned themselves a gritty 67-66 overtime win inside the PEC on Monday night.
It is the first overtime win for the Dawgs since January 11, 2023 against Henderson State.
In the first half, the Bulldogs used a stout defense to hold ECU to just 21 points – the fewest of any half for the Tigers this year. The Dawgs committed five fouls to ECU's two, with just two Tiger free throws to show through the first 20 minutes of physical gameplay.
The second half saw SWOSU grow a lead to 51-42 with eight minutes to play thanks to three straight three pointers from freshman Kray Rogers and another from Tobias Roland who capped off the spurt with one of his own.
ECU tightened the margin with a 6-0 run over the next five minutes of game time made it a one possession game headed into the closing minutes.
With 1:02 left, the Tigers took their first lead of the night at 55-54 but it would be short lived after a tough layup by Roland put the Dawgs back ahead. MJ Warrior was then fouled and made 1-of-2 free throws to give the Dawgs a two-point lead with just 16 seconds to go. In the final possession for the away team, Rogers was forced to foul to stop an easy layup attempt, and they knocked down both free throws to tie things back up.
In overtime, Roland opened the scoring with a deep three – giving the Bulldogs a lead that they would not let up. Both teams went back and forth with free throws but after a shot clock beating fade away three pointer from ECU, the Bulldogs found themselves tied 66-66 in the final minute. The Tigers had a chance to take the lead in the final seconds, but could not knock down a shot. A big rebound by Roland left him on the floor after ECU committed a foul. His free throw gave the Dawgs a 67-66 lead with 16 seconds left. On the defensive end, SWOSU got one final stop to seal the win.
Roland finished with 16 points to lead the way. Warrior added 14. Rogers dropped a season high 13 which all came after halftime.
Final numbers had the Bulldogs narrowly edging out the Tigers in field goal percentage (42.6%-40.7%) and three-point percentage (36.7%-34.8%) but ECU would shoot and make 10 more free throws than the Dawgs. SWOSU's four makes and eight attempts at the foul line were both season lows.
Despite another physical game, SWOSU had to fight through the first 36 minutes without attempting a free throw before finally making a trip to the foul line. With 3:22 left to play in the second half, Roland shot SWOSU's first free throw. By that time the Tigers had already attempted 14 of their own.
The Dawgs get back on the winning track with the win and now sit at 6-3 overall and 3-1 in conference and an undefeated 5-0 at home. They'll look to keep that going when hosting Oklahoma Baptist on Thursday, December 19 at 7:30 pm in the last game before Christmas Break.
