WEATHERFORD - A cold winter chill hit the East Central University men's basketball team before the rest of the state on Wednesday night.

            The Tigers managed just five first-half field goals in the first half while Southwestern Oklahoma caught fire early with 64.5 percent shooting in claiming a 79-50 Lone Star Conference North men's basketball victory at Rankin Williams Field House.

            ECU, 5-13 overall and 0-4 in the LSC North, suffered its ninth straight loss and managed just 21.7 percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes. The Tigers were just 33 percent for the game and had no 3-pointers (0-of-7).

            SWOSU, 7-12 and 1-3, shot 58.6 percent from the floor overall, was 37.5 percent from 3-point territory (6-of-16) and owned a 40-27 rebounding advantage.

            Damian Henderson paced the Bulldogs with 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting. Charleston Flemming followed with 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting and Chancellor Jones added 18 points on a 9-of-13 effort from the field. Those three were a combined 26-of-40.

            ECU's only double-figure scorer was junior guard Maurice Abraham with 16. Wayne Andrews was next with seven.

            Abraham did convert 5-of-6 field-goal attempts and was 6-of-7 from the free throw line.

            Denarius Darby did record five steals to go with his five points for the Tigers. Wes Badley recorded three steals to go with his six points and Dontae Figgs also chipped in six points.

            ECU committed 21 turnovers, compared to SWOSU's 20.

            The Tigers fell into the 43-19 halftime hole as they shot just 21.7 percent while SWOSU sizzled at a 64.5 percent pace.

            To make matters worse, ECU committed 13 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes, missed both of its 3-point field goal tries and was a woeful 9-of-17 (52.9 percent) from the free throw line.

            Abraham was the Tigers' top scorer at the break with only six points.

            Flemmings hit 6-of-8 shots from the field and had 13 points at intermission while Jones was 5-of-7 with 10 points for the Bulldogs.

            ECU is back in action on Saturday as the Tigers are scheduled to host Cameron at 4 p.m. inside the Kerr Activities Center in Ada.

ECU-Southwestern Oklahoma boxscore