WEATHERFORD – SWOSU Men's Basketball survived an East Central layup at the buzzer and won 61-60 over the Tigers in Thursday's home finale.
The win is huge. The Bulldogs entered the day needing a win to continue to control their postseason destiny and they got it.
SWOSU led by as many as 11 points (19-8) in the early going of the first half, but ECU closed the gap by halftime to get within three at 32-29. Both sides showed similar first half numbers, but the Dawgs had the edge in turnovers and points off them to hold a narrow lead at the break.
After halftime neither team budged, and it was a tightly contested game the rest of the way. The margin did not grow greater than four points towards either side, but the Dawgs managed to grab and then hold the lead down the stretch to win it.
An ECU layup just past the midway point of the half had them up 50-46 before an 8-0 run pushed SWOSU in front one last time. Leading 54-50 with 5:19 to play, the Bulldogs clung onto their lead all the way into the final seconds.
A banked in three-point shot by ECU with six seconds to play put them down just one point and allowed for continued drama until the very end. SWOSU missed a one-and-one free throw on the other end – setting up one final inbounds play from 90 feet away that nearly wreaked havoc.
The Tigers executed their inbound play with four seconds to play and got a racing look at a layup as time expired, but a defending
Mason Hart did just enough to make the shot uncomfortable and it rimmed out to allow SWOSU to hang out. Final, good guys, 61-60.
Final numbers had the Bulldogs shooting 41% in the game, 24-of-58, and 22% from the three-point line, 6-of-27. East Central finished at 46% overall and 29% from deep. Both teams shot just 11 free throws in the contest.
Mark Berry notched a 16-point, 11 rebound double-double.
Jalen Johnson matched him in points including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. Hart finished with seven points and eight rebounds, matching his career high in boards.
MJ Warrior dished out six assists. SWOSU's 14 assists as a team was tied for their second most this season.
Saturday's equation is simple at Southern Nazarene with a win. It's win and you're in. A loss is not the end-all-be-all, but it will open doors for tiebreakers to occur depending on results around the league.
Tip off in Bethany comes at the regularly scheduled 3:00 time slot.
Here's the standings after Thursday's action.
| Team |
GAC Record |
| Arkansas Tech * |
17-4 |
| Southeastern Oklahoma State * |
17-4 |
| Northwestern Oklahoma State #3 |
14-7 |
| Southern Nazarene |
10-11 |
| Arkansas-Monticello |
10-11 |
| Southwestern Oklahoma State |
10-11 |
| Harding |
9-12 |
| Oklahoma Baptist |
9-12 |
| Southern Arkansas |
9-12 |
| East Central |
8-13 |
| Henderson State |
7-14 |
| Ouachita Baptist |
6-15 |
