Rome, GA - The Southern Wesleyan University Warriors were victorious over the Shorter University Hawks on Saturday Afternoon. 

The Warriors were led in scoring by Christopher Osobaye with 18 points, while Che Smith and Ceejay Jordan also chipped in with 10 points each. Smith also had a team-high 9 rebounds and equaled Eric Hackett with 2 assists. As a team, Southern Wesleyan shot 27-57 (47.4%) from the field, 2-7 (28.6%) from three, and 23-35 (65.7%) from the free-throw line. 



Game Vitals:

Final: Southern Wesleyan University 79, Shorter University 72\

Records: Southern Wesleyan University (3-6, 2-2), Shorter University (2-6, 0-2)



How It Happened:

Following the exam-week break, Reco Hallmon was inserted into the starting lineup and he was joined by Che Smith, RJ Bell, Marcus Long, and Aaron Tims. The Warriors' offense began at a place where it was often: the free-throw line. Smith connected on two shots in his first trip there and six of his ten points come from there while the Warriors shot twenty more free throws than the Hawks and had twelve more makes. Che was also active on the glass with an early tip-in and important defensive rebounds. Shorter had a first-half lead by as much as eleven, but a 6-0 run featuring buckets from Bobby Taylor, Jamarras McCray, and Hallmon helped bring it back to within striking range before the break. 

After the Hawk lead crept back into double-digits early in the second half, Southern Wesleyan pulled together a crucial stretch to gain a lead. The run in total was 14-2 in favor of the Warriors and it began with a pair of free throws from Christopher Osobaye and was capped by a second-chance bucket from Ceejay Jordan which took a 57-55 lead just outside the 8:00 mark. SWU also went on a quicker 8-0 run while getting more offense from Osobaye and Jordan to increase the margin. The Warriors could have ended up winning by more because although they did a great job of earning trips to the free-throw line, they were just 6-10 from the stripe in the final 2:00. Osobaye had a 1-2 trip with 0:08 seconds left to put SWU up 79-72 and that would be the final score. 



What's Next:

The Warriors are off until Thursday, January 2nd when they host Carolina Christian. After that, they return to conference play with a matchup against Francis Marion University at Tyisnger Gymnasium on Saturday, January 4th.