Men Lose First Game of Year
November 25, 2011
Arkansas - Fort Smith upend Bulldogs, 78-67 in the first-day of play at the Dallas Baptist University Thanksgiving Classic.
DALLAS, Texas – Southwestern Oklahoma State University’s had its four-game win streak ended Friday night as the Bulldogs were beaten 78-67 by the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith in the first day at the Dallas Baptist Thanksgiving Classic. The Bulldogs will face the host-team, DBU, Saturday afternoon in a rematch from earlier this week.
Dominick Cornelius scored 17 points but the Bulldogs were unable to overcome some uncharacteristic shooting woes and foul trouble. SWOSU ended the game making 38% of its shots on 23-of-60 attempts. SWOSU had previously not shot lower than 45% in its previous four games.
The Bulldogs where whistled for 23 fouls and had three players foul out with five personal fouls. UA-FS used the foul discrepancy and made 20 visits to the free throw line. The Golden Lions made 24 charity tosses compared to SWOSU’s 10, a difference of 14.
Still, the Bulldogs did not go down easy. SWOSU rallied from a 35-26 halftime deficit and caught the Golden Lions early in the second half. Filip Toric swished a three-pointer to tie the game at 42 with 12:13 to play.
SWOSU was still within range later when Chase Elliott knocked down a trey and brought the Bulldogs to within two at 52-50 with 8:14 to play.
UA-Fort Smith then went on a 12-3 run over the next five minutes and pushed its margin back to twin figures at 66-54 with 3:23 to play.
SWOSU had three other players in addition to Cornelius score in twin figures. Elliott had 11 while Kenyan Borders and Thomas Davis added 10 apiece.
