Storm Fall in Conference Opener at HSU

ARKADELPHIA. Ark. – Southeastern's offense struggled in the second half as the Savage Storm dropped its Great American Conference opener at Henderson State on Thursday 75-48 in Arkadelphia, Ark.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 1-3 overall an 0-1 in league play heading into a 4 p.m. matchup on Saturday, Nov. 22 against Southern Arkansas in Magnolia, Ark.
 
The Savage Storm fought to a 36-32 deficit at halftime, but a 26.1 percent shooting effort in the second half produced just 16 points.
 
SE was outscored in the half by a 39-16 margin thanks in large part to HSU countering the Storm woes with a 59.3 percent shooting effort in the half.
 
Danny Powell paced the Storm offense with 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting, while Taylor Smaller was right behind with 11 points on the strength of three threes.
 
Powell and Darius led SE on the boards with five each.
 
The Storm fell behind out of the gates, but kept the score close, eventually taking its first lead on an Anton Cook three with 11:39 to play in the first half at 12-11.
 
The teams would trade the lead and a pair of ties again before a Powell jumper would give SE the lead again with 7:34 to go in the half.
 
A Smaller three with 5:32 to go would give the Storm its largest lead of the day at 26-23, but a 7-1 Reddie run would put SE down 30-27 which would grow to 36-32 at halftime.
 
Southeastern's Nathan Jackson scored the first bucket out of the break, but HSU answered with nine-straight points to open up a double-digit lead.
 
A pair of Tyler Lonzie free throws would cut the gap back to nine points, but the Reddies would score the next six points and the Storm would never get the deficit to single digits again as HSU pulled away for the 75-48 win.