Photo by SWC Staff
Oklahoma City, Okla. – For the third year in a row, the Paycom Center, home of the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder played host to Central Christian College men's basketball team, taking on the Southwestern College Moundbuilders in the third annual "Bridge Builder Classic".

It was a competitive game from start to finish, with the Tigers clinging to a six point lead at the halftime intermission 43-37. In the second half, the Tigers came out hot and pushed the lead out to double digits, 52-41 at the 17 minute mark. But from there, the Builders went on a 26 to 5 run over the next 12 minutes to take the lead 67-57.

The Tigers tried to mount a comeback, but the Builders hit some key three pointers as they made their run keeping the Tigers at arms length the rest of the way, In the end, Southwestern held on for a 80-69 victory, leaving the Tigers still searching for their first win at the Paycom Center.

Key Statistic
The Builders outscored the Tiger 46 to 32 in the paint.

By the Numbers
The Tigers hit 24 of 66 (36%) of their shots from the floor.

They made 10 of 24 from deep for a 42% efficiency.

From the free throw line, they made just 11 of 20 attempts (55%).

Three Tigers scored in double figures, led by a career high 25 points from Chris Whitten.

The Tigers lost the turnover battle 14 to 11, and were outrebounded by the Builders 46-42.

Tiger Leaders

Points: Chris Whitten (25)
Rebounds: Andre Shelby (11)           
Assists: Andre Shelby (3)
Steals: Andre Shelby (4)
Blocks: Andre Shelby (5) 
                                                                
Coaches Quote:

"It was nice to get out and finally compete against someone other than ourselves.  Southwestern is a very good team, returning most of their team from their KCAC championship last season.  We have a lot of new guys this year, we knew it was going to be a challenge starting the season off against such a quality opponent.  For our first time out, we had some good moments where we controlled the pace.

The first half, I was pleased with our defensive effort, we did a solid job getting back and limiting their transition attack, which was a focus of ours.  Offensively, we were able to make some shots and did a decent job executing our stuff.  

After being up 11 in the second half, there was a stretch where they went on a big run.  Our lack of experience showed in that part of the game.  The things we were able to do for the first 30 minutes of the game, we were not able to do quite as well the last 10.  Credit Southwestern, their top guys made plays down the stretch and we were not able to match it.  Not enough quality possessions in that stretch for us which led to them getting out in transition.  We also gave up too many second chance opportunities in that stretch.  Two things we knew we couldn't allow.   Some good learning moments to grow from leading into our classic this weekend." – Coach Romero

Next Up
 
The Tigers (0-1) have a quick turnaround as they will host the annual "Classic for Christ" this weekend. They will play Kansas Christian College Friday night at 8:00 pm then play Manhattan Christian at 4:00 pm on Saturday.