Men Turn Back Aggies

February 2, 2008

WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Southwestern Oklahoma State University shook itself free from a determined Cameron University basketball team to set up a showdown for the Lone Star Conference’s North Division top spot Wednesday against Central Oklahoma.

Jose Garcia scored 16 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs to a 79-63 victory over Cameron Saturday in Weatherford. The win improved 12th ranked SWOSU to 17-3 overall and 5-0 in the LSC North. The Bulldogs will next play Wednesday at North co-leader Central Oklahoma who is 16-4 and 5-0 on the year.

Cameron, which was led by Leslie Malone with 16 points and 12 rebounds, dropped to 4-16 and 2-3 on the season.

Garcia’s three-pointer with 3:47 to play put the finishing touches on a 14-4 run and put SWOSU ahead 73-56 with 3:47 to play. The Bulldogs led by as many as 13 points only to see the Aggies fight back and get within five points on two separate occasions midway through the second half.

Nate Perry scored 14 points and Clarke Hale added 12 for the Bulldogs who had scoring from all nine players who played.

The Bulldogs had their first double-figure lead when Tanner Hazelbaker came off the bench and swished a three pointer to put SWOSU ahead 31-19 with 7:18 to play in the first half.

SWOSU finished the game making 49% of its shots on 31-of-63 attempts while the Aggies managed just 42% on 26-of-62 attempts.