Milledgeville, GA - The Southern Wesleyan University Warriors were defeated by the Georgia College & State University Bobcats on Wednesday Evening.
The Warriors were led in scoring by Eric Hackett with 23 and Marcus Long with 22, led in rebounding by Christopher Osobaye with 6, and led in assists by Che Smith with 5. As a team, SWU shot 17-54 (31.5%) from the field, 14-37 (37.8%) from three, and 32-47 (68.1%) from the free-throw line.
Game Vitals:
Final: Southern Wesleyan University 80, Georgia College & State University 91
Records: Southern Wesleyan University (2-5), Georgia College & State University (3-4)
How it Happened:
The Warriors opened Wednesday's non-conference game with Che Smith, RJ Bell, Marcus Long, Christopher Osobaye, and Aaron Tims in the starting lineup. They began the game with a bucket on the first possession, as Smith drove and found Long at the top of the key for a three. Bell matched him with a corner three a couple of possessions later. The Warriors' lead grew to 4 with an Osobaye free throw before the Bobcats went on an 18-3 run to establish a big lead. Long scored the only SWU bucket during that run followed by another long-range three at the 12:00 mark to end the run. Marcus's shooting was a major bright spot for this team on a night where they struggled from two, as he came in with just one made three on the night and well surpassed that mark with 6 on the game. Also, it was mostly feast-or-famine for the Warriors in this first half as they converted on seven total field goals and six of them were from three-point land. The lone non-three came in the final seconds of the first half - a fastbreak run-out from Tims for SWU who went into the locker room down 51-26.
The Warriors came out at the start of the second half with some good offense, scoring the first six points of the period including another Long three. The two teams exchanged buckets for the first part of the second half and the Warriors couldn't get the Bobcat lead to within twenty until just inside the 7:00 mark thanks to a charity-stripe trip from Je'hvonni Hogan. After that, their next nine points came from Eric Hackett who converted on three free throws and made two shots from behind the arc. Not only did the Warriors better their three-point shooting from the first half in the second at eight made threes to six, but they had a lot more success getting to the free-throw line where they made twenty-six of their thirty-four attempts. Freshman Jackson Moore knocked down his first career field goal in his season debut. Some late window-dressing helped the Warriors get the lead down to eleven and they dropped their fifth game of the 2024-25 season.
What's Next:
The Warriors have just two games remaining in the calendar year as they are at home on Saturday, December 7th for a matchup with Lees-McRae College before traveling to Shorter University on Saturday, December 14th.
