SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist will complete their six-game road tour tomorrow as they'll travel down to Weatherford for a Saturday evening matchup with Southwestern Oklahoma State. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. inside the Pioneer Cellular Event Center. SWOSU leads the all-time series 70-69, but has lost the last four matchups to the Bison.
The Bison are coming off a conference-opening 64-60 victory over Northwestern Oklahoma State last night in Alva. After holding the Rangers to a 26.9 percent shooting clip and outscoring NWOSU 38-19 in the first half, OBU fought off a resilient Northwestern squad late to earn their first GAC Victory of the season.
Guard Burke Putnam led all scorers with 20 points and tallied a team-high eight rebounds. Putnam was 9-of-13 from the free-throw line and has now scored 20 points or more in a game for the fifth time this season. Jordan Thompson touched the court for the first time this season to collect 11 points, including two three-pointers. Other notables were Nigel Wilcox and Jaquan Simms, who recorded 10 and nine points, respectively.
Southwestern enters Saturday with a 1-4 overall record after dropping their conference opener against Southeastern 77-76 on Thursday. The Bulldogs led 41-37 going into halftime but found themselves in a cold offensive spell with 9:20 left in the contest. SWOSU struggled to get a basket during the time, allowing SEOSU the opportunity to chip away at the lead and eventually overcome the Bulldogs.
Junior guard Chris Braggs Jr. leads the Bulldogs in scoring this season, averaging 14.0 points per game with a 43.4 field-goal percentage. Kamden Gipson has been the number two option, averaging 12.2 points per contest, and leads the team in assists (14). SWOSU's leading rebounder, Mark Berry, has pulled down 29 total boards while averaging 7.2 points per game.
Junior Tanner Meraz is the last of three Bulldogs in double-digits, collecting 12.0 points per game at a 47.8 shooting percentage.
SWOSU is led by head coach Terry Evans, who is in his fourth season with the Bulldogs. Evans holds a 289-177 overall record, including a 26-53 record at Southwestern, in his 17-year coaching career.
