Men Win, Ready for Tourney

March 1, 2008

LAWTON, Okla. – Southwestern Oklahoma State University jump started its bid for a long and extended post-season run by closing out Cameron with a 75-72 victory in the final regular season game Saturday.

The Bulldogs will now pack their 21-6 records and begin play Wednesday, March 3 in the Lone Star Conference Tournament in Bartlesville, Okla. SWOSU’s first-round opponent will be high scoring Abilene Christian University, a team that was a 21-point winner against the Bulldogs earlier this season. Tipoff is set for 12 noon Bruin Fieldhouse.

The winner of the SWOSU-ACU game will meet the winner of the Texas A&M-Commerce and West Texas A&M game on Friday, March 7 at 6 p.m. The finals are set for Saturday at 7 p.m. Northeastern State, Tarleton State, Angelo State and Central Oklahoma are the other teams in the tournament.

SWOSU’s victory over Cameron provided the Bulldogs with some much-needed momentum going into the tournament. The Bulldogs had lost their last two games and had to fight off a determined Cameron team that pushed SWOSU to the final minute.

Trevor Guy had 22 points while Nate Perry added 13 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs.

Leslie Malone had 31 points to lead Cameron who finished the year at 6-21 and 4-8 in the LSC North.

SWOSU played in front for much of the game and were enjoying a 69-55 lead with 5:33 to play after a short jumper by Tanner Hazelbaker. The Bulldogs still had a 73-63 edge with 2:13 to play when Jose Garcia scored on a nifty fast-break layup. However, the Aggies caught fire and scored the next nine points to come within one at 73-72.

CU had a chance to tie it at 73 all but Kallan Glasgow’s free throw with 31 seconds bounced away.

SWOSU’s Brandon Nichols made two free throws to put SWOSU ahead 75-72 with 21 seconds to play.

The Bulldogs then missed two front ends of a one-and-one and had to hold their breaths as Malone’s potential game-tying, three-pointer banged off the rim no good as the buzzer sounded.