ADA, Okla. – SWOSU Men's Basketball suffered an overtime heartbreaker in Ada as the Tigers took down the Dawgs 71-69, forcing OT despite being down five with under a minute remaining in regulation.
A slow start for the Bulldogs allowed ECU to go up five at the first media timeout before the Dawgs made a basket, as they had already turned the ball over three times. However, out of the timeout, the Dawgs went on a 14-6 run to take the lead in a back-and-forth battle over the first 20 minutes. SWOSU took a one-point lead into the break thanks to a buzzer-beating corner three from
Kray Rogers, his first bucket of the half. The difference in the half came from the free throw line, as ECU went 8-9 while the Bulldogs did not attempt one.
ECU got off to another hot start in the second half, going on an 8-0 run to build a 42-32 lead thanks to back-to-back threes by Jordan England. The Dawgs, however, picked up the pace and started to play their style of basketball, slowly chipping away to get back into the game. They immediately went on a 10-1 run over five minutes of game time to cut the deficit to one point.
The energy shift in tonight's game came when
Kaysen Gipson entered with 14:14 left in the second half and the Bulldogs trailing 39-32. After he checked in, the Dawgs climbed back to even take a five-point lead with under a minute to go. But the Tigers would not go away, scoring on back-to-back possessions to tie the game. Both teams had a chance to take the lead in the final seconds, but neither could capitalize.
Rogers opened the scoring in the overtime period before ECU started to take over with seven straight points to grab a five-point lead. Rogers nailed a three to steady the ship once more, but the Tigers' shot-making in OT was too much for the Bulldogs to overcome, as ECU clinched its spot in the GAC Tournament with a 71-69 win.
Despite the loss,
Kaysen Gipson had the best game of his career. He finished with a team-high 16 points to go with four rebounds, three of which came on the offensive end, and two steals. Rogers and
Elijah Jordan each added 12 points, with Jordan grabbing a team-high eight rebounds.
SWOSU shot 40.6% from the field tonight while going just 26.7% from beyond the three-point line. ECU shot 43.4% from the field and 33.3% from deep. The free throw line was a major factor in the final result, as ECU went 19-of-23 while SWOSU attempted just nine all game, making each one.
The Dawgs will host Southeastern on Saturday at 3:00 pm inside the PEC with postseason contention still on the line heading into the final day of the regular season.
