This year, Southwestern Oklahoma made the most of its second-half surge.

One year after rallying from 20 points down only to lose in overtime of the opening Lone Star Conference championship game, the Bulldogs made sure they did just enough Thursday in the quarterfinal round at Bartlesville's Bruin Fieldhouse.

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      With stingy defense and some timely 3-point shots, Southwestern Oklahoma opened up a close game at the half to cruise past Angelo State with an 82-65 win, advancing them to the LSC semifinals for the first since 2004.

      The Bulldogs (18-10) had four scorers in double-digits, led by Kenneth White, who scored 25 points, along with four rebounds and four assists. Jerard Campbell added 16 points and eight rebounds, while Kendall Smith came off the bench to score 14 points, including four 3-pointers. A year ago, it was Smith who ignited the Bulldogs in the second half against Abilene Christian with seven 3-pointers.

      This time, Southwestern needed every bit of Smith's outside touch, especially with Clark Hale, the LSC's third-leading 3-point shooter (.440) struggling. Hale finished with 11 points, but made his only 3 of the game in the final two minutes and was 1-of-6 beyond the arc.

      But along with the Bulldogs' four top scorers, their best overall performance might have come from Abdullah Lawal, recently named LSC North Division Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.  Lawal scored just six points, but finished the game with 11 rebounds, six assists and four steals, close to his Division II-leading average of 4.4 steals per game. 

      The Rams also had four double-digit scorers, led by Malik Motnii, who scored 14 points with eight boards. Lionel Brown and Johnny Barnes each scored 13, with Shavar Burch adding 12 points and nine rebounds.

      The loss not only drops ASU to 20-8, but could put their post-season chances in jeopardy. Angelo entered the game ranked fifth in the latest South Central Regional poll, with the top eight teams advancing.

      For the Bulldogs, winning the LSC championship and earning the automatic berth to the regional tournament seems to be their only way to advance.

      If that occurs, what a way to send out SWOSU head coach Todd Thurman, who announced this week he is stepping down from the sidelines to focus solely as the school's athletic director.

      The Bulldogs played like an inspired team Wednesday, especially in the second half. The Rams took a 45-41 lead with 13:57 to play, but that's when Smith went off for the Bulldogs, hitting three 3-pointers in a four-minute span that helped push the lead up to 10. From there, the Bulldogs never looked back.

      SWOSU will play the winner of Central Oklahoma-Tarleton State in Saturday's semifinal round.

Southwestern Oklahoma Notes

Kenneth White has scored in double-figures in 10-straight games, and 26 of 28 on the season

Today was the sixth-straight game that SWOSU has had three players in double-digit scoring

The win snaps a four-game losing streak for SWOSU in the LSC Tournament

SWOSU is now 3-6 in LSC Tournament play

Abdullah Lawal extends his SWOSU and LSC career steals mark to 263 and his Season steals mark to 122

ANGELO STATE NOTES

* After Wednesday's loss to Southwestern Oklahoma State, the Rams have lost in the first round of the tournament 15 times in their 27 tournament appearances and are now just 15-22 in 37 tournament games.

* Angelo State's 17-poipnt loss is tied for its second-worst defeat in tournament history, just behind the 18-point loss it suffered against Abilene Christian in the 1985 tournament.  ASU also lost by points (77-60) to Howard Payne in the first round of the 1979 tournament.

* The Rams have now lost four straight games in the tournament.  In 201, they lost the championship game to West Texas A&M (75-73 in overtime), and since then they have lost in the first round of the tournament in three straight seasons: vs. Southwestern Oklahoma State in 2002, vs. Central Oklahoma in 2008 and vs. Southwestern Oklahoma Sate in 2009.

* The Rams are now 0-2 against the Bulldogs in LSC Post-Season Tournament history with losses in 2002 (75-72) and 2009 (82-65).

* The Rams -- who have now lost three straight games -- have had trouble finishing games of late, and it showed again in Thursday's loss to Southwestern Oklahoma State.  The Bulldogs scored 49 second-half points, the 12th time this season the Rams have allowed the opposition to score at least 40 points in the second half.  The Rams won the first six games it allowed the opponent to score at least 40 points in the final 20 minutes, but they are 1-5 in their last six games when allowing that many points in the second half.  In their three-game losing streak, the Rams have allowed, in order, 42 points to Midwestern State, 46 points to Tarleton State, and 49 points to Southwestern Oklahoma State. 

* The Rams were making their 25th appearance in the Lone Star Conference Post-Season Tournament, the third-highest total in league history behind Texas A&M-Commerce (30) and Texas A&M-Kingsville (27).

* The Rams, however, have three league titles to their credit: 1984, 1988 and 1989.  The Rams have finished as the tournament runner-up three times: 1976, 1985 and 2001.

* The Rams entered the game as the top free-throw shooting team in the LSC, shooting better than 78 percent as a team. ASU hit just 7-of-17 attempts
from the line against the Bulldogs (41%) and did not attempt a free throw in the first half.

* The 65 points tied for the second lowest scoring output by the Rams this season. The 65 points matched the points scored by ASU in its regular-season ending loss at Tarleton State last Saturday.

* Senior Malik Motnii nearly recorded his first double-double of the season, ending the game with 14 points and eight rebounds, both team highs.

Southwestern Oklahoma Quotes

Thurman: "I'm obviously very pleased with the way we played and I'm happy for the opportunity to go into the semifinals, but mostly I'm happy for those kids. This is a team of seniors, a team that has had blood and sweat and tears through a lot of games. They deserve it and now we just need to keep ticking away."

"Mostly, we were trying to bottle up the inside and contain on the outside. We were trying to make sure we had backside help, and give us the opportunities for a steal. Our guys were disrupting what they did on the outside, making it hard to get to the inside."

"Kendall is one of those guys that was born shooting. He's a young man that can hit shots, and we were happy that he came out feeling good tonight."

"At this point, I don't think it matters who we play next. Both teams provide the same threat and they have people that can get it done on the inside and we're not very big. Our guys have a lot of heart and whoever we play; our guys will give them a run."

Hale: "Last year's experience helped us a lot. I think last year we were down at halftime and we have a more experienced group this year and a will to win."

Lawal: "I love defense, its just something I do. I had a high school coach that taught me well and I just love it."

HOME QUOTES FROM ASU

Head Coach Fred Rike on second half SWOSU run
"Well I think they made a run there in the second half and we didn't bow our necks. Couldn't keep them off the free throw line."

"They hit a couple 3s. From there we weren't able to keep them off the foul line. They did a good job of getting to the basket."

Malik Motnii on his scoring effort
"Well all I can say is we lost the game. It really doesn't matter how I did today. The other team did a great job."

Lionel Brown on difference from first half to second half
"I believe we executed on offense and we got away from that."