The Southern Wesleyan University Warriors celebrated Senior Day on Saturday Afternoon, recognizing the careers of Griffin Effenberger, Dyren Brown, and Sam Limehouse. Unfortunately, the squad couldn't pull out the victory against the Mount Olive Trojans and dropped their penultimate conference game of the season. 

The Warriors were led in scoring by Reco Hallmon with 20 points - his 7th consecutive game in double-figures - while Che Smith led the team in rebounds (6) and assists (4). As a team, they shot 29-57 (50.9%) from the field, 8-22 (36.4%) from behind the arc, and 17-22 (77.3%) from the free throw line. 



Game Vitals:

Final: Southern Wesleyan University 83, Mount Olive University 93

Records: Southern Wesleyan University (4-23, 3-14), Mount Olive University (7-20, 6-11)



How It Happened:

The Warriors starting lineup on Saturday was Jonathan Taylor, Che Smith, Griffin Effenberger, Dyren Brown, and Aaron Tims, meaning two of the three Seniors got the start on Senior Day.  
Both teams got off to a very rough start on offense, with a 2:15 drought before either team found the bottom of the net, but after that, there wasn't much defense played at all. It was Brown and Taylor who had layups on the first two field goals of the game for SWU who lead 8-4 5 minutes into the game. Their biggest lead of the half came just over halfway through it on an And-1 by Effenberger. Reco Hallmon was an instant jolt of energy off the bench for Coach Stites' squad, scoring 13 points in the opening half hitting 3 of his 5 attempts from behind the arc - an area of his game that has dramatically improved since the start of the month. 

The second half remained close for the majority of the twenty minutes. Southern Wesleyan had a couple of successful trips to the free throw line early in the period and also had lots of success going down low to Tims. The Warriors' toughest offensive stretches were a result of foul trouble to him, Smith, and Hallmon. That has been a theme over the past five games for the Warriors, and it was the downfall of their loss to Mount Olive today. The Trojans started to pull away within the final 2:30 of the game, scoring 13 points to the Warriors' 7 to end the game. 



What's Next:

The Warriors have just one game remaining in their Conference Schedule: an affair with Emmanuel College on Wednesday, February 28th, at Tysinger Gymnasium.