SE Falls on Last-Second Bucket

Box Score DURANT, Okla. – Darius Harris drained a pair of free throws to tie the game with 13 seconds to play, but Southwestern Oklahoma State hit a layup with just over a second to play to hand the Savage Storm a heartbreaking 72-70 loss on Thursday night in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The loss is the sixth-straight for the season which dips to 4-6 overall on the year and 2-3 in Great American Conference play heading into Saturday afternoon's 4 p.m. meeting with Northwestern Oklahoma State.
 
SE held an eight-point halftime lead at 36-28 and led by as many as 10 points in the early going of the second half.
 
SWOSU, however, mounted a comeback and hit three point buckets on four-straight possessions to turn a 48-41 SE lead into a 53-48 deficit with 11:47 to play in the game.
 
The Bulldogs advantage would grow to as much as eight points, but SE began whittling away at the deficit down the stretch, first tying the game on a Quinton Threadgill three pointer with 2:07 to play at 68-68.
 
Trailing by two with SWOSU in possession, SE trapped Kenyan Borders at the midcourt line, forcing a turnover that Harris came up with on the fast break heading the other way before he was grabbed and foul by Rod Camphor in a play that garnered a little controversy as the officials discussed calling an intentional which would have also given SE possession after the free throws, but instead left the call a basic foul call.
 
Harris drained both free throws, but Gary Inglett would get a desperation scoop layup to bounce in with just over one second to play to steal the 72-70 win for the Bulldogs.
 
Harris led the club in scoring with 17 points, hitting 7-of-8 from the field and all three free throw tries he had on the night.
 
He was joined by John Balwigaire who finished with 12 points, while Urald King added 11 despite fighting the double-team most of the night and Threadgill added 11 as well.
 
The Storm shot an impressive 55.3 percent from the field and added a 47.1 percent effort form three point range by hitting 8-of-17 from long range.
 
SE needed every bit of that just to keep pace as SWOSU hit 50.0 percent from three point range, finishing 16-of-32 which proved to be the difference in the end.
 
Threadgill dished out a team-best five assists as the team combined for 19 across from just 12 turnovers.
 
For the first time on the year SE was outrebounded by an opponent as the Bulldogs pulled down 33 boards to just 26 by the Storm who were led in that effort by King who had six.