SNU Pulls Away Late in SE Loss

Box Score BETHANY, Okla. – Southeastern shot an uncharacteristically low 36.7 percent from the field and was unable to keep pace with Southern Nazarene in the second half en route to an 84-51 loss on Saturday afternoon in Bethany, Okla.
 
The Savage Storm slip to 4-9 on the year with the loss extending the team's losing skid to nine games.  SE is now 2-6 in Great American Conference play.
 
Anton Cook was the team's only double-digit scorer with 14 points thanks to three three-point buckets.
 
Taylor Smaller and Urald King each added eight points and Daichi Taniguchi chipped in seven off the bench.
 
A rough 33.3 percent in the second half led to SE's 36.7 percent which ranks near the bottom single game efforts this season, and that was counteracted by SNU hitting 50.0 percent from the field, including 10 threes.
 
SE was shackled with 18 turnovers and dished out just five assists.
 
King turned in another double-digit performance on the glass with 10 boards, but SNU held a 35-to-31 edge in total rebounds.
 
The Storm trailed SNU in points in the paint, 28-20, and points off turnovers, 25-10.  The teams were even in second chance buckets, but the Crimson Storm led 12-2 in fast break points and its bench outscored SE's bench 31-13.
 
The teams traded buckets out of the gate and SE would jump in front 19-17 midway through the first half on a Smaller three pointer.
 
SNU would take the lead with five straight points, but a pair of Randy Peters free throws cut the deficit to one point with 6:39 to play in the half.
 
The Crimson Storm would then reel off a 10-0 run to lead 32-21 with 3:32 to play in the half before SE would whittle the deficit back down to 35-28 at halftime.
 
Southeastern twice cut the gap to five points early in the second half, but a 6-0 spurt by SNU would push their lead to double-digits.
 
SE would claw back and close the score to within six points, and still trailed by single digits with 8:49 to play in the game at 55-46.
 
SNU, however, would outscore the Storm 29-5 in the final eight minutes to hand SE the 84-51 loss.