DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern is hosting rival East Central in the final home contest of the season at 7:30 p.m. on Feb 28 in Bloomer Sullivan Arena in a game that has great meaning to both teams as they fight for position in the upcoming Great American Conference tournament with two regular season games to play.
The Savage Storm will also see three seniors playing their final home games in
Chris Roussell, a four-year player, as well as
Steven Kohli and
James Harris, both of whom transferred in as juniors last season.
SE enters Thursday's meeting with a 14-10 record overall and a 10-8 mark in conference play, currently in fifth place in the league standings, but with Northwestern Oklahoma State tied for the lead but ineligible for the tournament, the Storm currently holds the No. 4 seed with two games to play.
There is plenty of room for that to change as Southeastern is two games behind league-leaders Arkansas Tech and NWOSU, but just 1.5 games up on Southern Nazarene and Southwestern Oklahoma State who are tied for seventh.
The Tigers also come into the game with motivation as they are locked in a tie for the final playoff spot with Southern Arkansas as both teams are 5-13 on the year and split their regular season series.
Eight teams advance to the GAC tournament, but with NWOSU and SNU serving provisional years this season, neither team is eligible for postseason play.
Southeastern will also be out for a bit of revenge after seeing a second-half lead disappear before ultimately losing on an ECU bucket with seven seconds to play in Ada, Okla., just over a month ago.
Kohli and Roussell each turned in double-doubles in that contest, with Kohli turning in 16 points and 14 rebounds, while Roussell was right behind with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Andris Misters chipped in 12 points in the effort and
Mateus Oliveira added 11.
Travis Timmons dished out a game-high seven assists and added eight points in what would be his last full game before being injured two days later against ATU.
Roussell continues to pace the Storm with 15.9 ppg on the year, while Kohli is adding 12.1 per outing. Oliveira and Misters are each just under the double-digit mark at 9.8 and 9.0, respectively.
Kohli leads the rebounding effort with 8.0 rpg, while Roussell and Oliveira are each pitching in 7.3 per contest.
Roussell has also stepped up his distribution efforts in Timmons' absence and has lifted his assists per game mark to 3.4.
ECU has struggled since the teams met in Ada, posting a 2-6 record since then including a current two-game losing streak.
The Tigers are led by Colby Carr at 13.3 ppg, while Chris Fisher is just outside the double-digit mark with 9.8 ppg.
Carr also paces the club in rebounds at 8.2, while Fisher is dishing out a team-best 2.6 assists per game.
