BETHANY - East Central, minus three starters and nearly 40 percent of its scoring, dropped a 95-81 decision at Southwestern Christian Monday night, suffering its third straight loss on the season.

            Starters Wayne Andrews, Maurice Abraham and Denarius Darby were absent from Monday's contest after failing to make it to the bus in time for Monday's departure from Ada.

            The Tigers, who fell to 5-7 on the season, struggled at both ends of the floor, particularly on defense as the host Eagles shot 50.7 percent from the floor, including 54.3 percent in the first half in building a commanding 55-31 lead at the break.

            Southwestern Christian shot 46.7 percent from 3-point range (7-of-15) in the opening 20 minutes in padding that 24-point halftime advantage.

            Greg Block, behind a 5-of-10 shooting effort from 3-point range, paced the victorious Eagles with 19 points. Josh Gamblin followed with 18 points, including a pair of treys, and Reimond Prince added 16 points, eight rebounds, nine assists and three steals.

            Senior guard Eric Allen topped the Tigers with a game-high 31 points on 11-of-27 shooting from the field and an 8-of-9 effort from the free throw line to go with a team-high nine rebounds.

            Freshman Bobby McAdoo sank 6-of-11 shots, including 4-of-8 from long range, to finish with a career-high 19 points for ECU, which shot 42.6 percent overall, but struggled from 3-point land (only 7-of-25 for 28 percent) and the charity stripe (16-of-28 for 57.1 percent).

            The only battle the Tigers were able to win was on the boards as they owned a 46-41 edge. Sophomore Justin Prothro snatched eight rebounds and freshman Jarrett Brandon ended up with seven. Brandon also led ECU with seven assists to go with his five points.

            Lanard Donnell finished with nine points, six rebounds and three assists for the Tigers and Wes Badley ended up with eight points.

            Also reaching double figures for SCU were Tradidas Williams and Brandon Rollins with 11  apiece.

            Except for an early 2-1 Tiger lead off a Brandon penetration and basket, the Eagles led the rest of the way, building a 7-2 advantage and cruising from there.

            The next action for ECU will be three straight home games. The Tigers entertain Angelo State at 8 p.m. on Thursday and Abilene Christian at 4 p.m. on Saturday in a pair of Lone Star Conference crossover games, before opening LSC North play at home on Jan. 13 against the University of Central Oklahoma at 8 p.m.

ECU-SW Christian boxscore