SE Upset Bid at D-I Texas Tech Falls Short

Men's Basketball | 11/3/2014 9:38:00 PM

Box Score LUBBOCK, Texas – Taylor Smaller led all scorers with 24 points, but Southeastern was unable to hang onto its early second half lead as Texas Tech pulled away late and handed the Savage Storm a 79-67 loss in an exhibition contest on Monday night in Lubbock, Texas.
 
The game is the first of a three-game Division I tour of exhibition contests for SE as they will next travel to San Antonio, Texas on Nov. 6 for a 7 p.m. matchup with Texas-San Antonio.
 
Smaller powered his way to 24 points on the back of six threes, finishing 9-of-23 from the floor and 6-of-14 from behind the arc, with an even more impressive mark in the second half where he turned in 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including a 4-of-5 effort from three point range.
 
Daichi Taniguchi was the only other Southeastern scorer in double-figures, with newcomer Danny Powell adding nine points and Anton Cook chipping in seven.
 
The Storm shot 35.3 percent for the game and 32.4 percent from long range, connecting on 11-of-34 threes as a team, while the Red Raiders hit 48.4 percent from the floor on the strength of a 53.6 percent effort in the second half.
 
TT shot 1-of-9 from long range and 18-of-37 from the free throw line, while Southeastern hit 8-of-13 from the charity stripe.
 
SE dished out 13 assists as a team, led by three each from Sami Bzai and Powell.
 
 The Storm was out-rebounded 47-to-41, but was led on the glass by Darius Harris who hauled in eight boards, while Powell and Tyler Lonzie each added five.
 
The Red Raiders got on the board first on a Robert Turner layup, but Taniguchi hit the first bucket of the season, draining a three to give the Storm the very early 3-2 lead at the 18:45 mark.
 
TT answered with the next seven points to take a 9-3 lead by the 16:04 mark and would push that lead to seven points at 13-6 with 14:50 to go forcing a Southeastern time out.
 
Following the timeout Tyler Lonzie would hit a pair of free throws and Smaller would hit a jumper to cut the deficit to 13-10 with 13:12 to go in the half, but the Raiders would again answer and this time push the lead out to 20-12 by the 10:50 mark.
 
Bzai would answer that with a three and the Storm would chip away at the deficit, closing the gap to 24-23 on a Taniguchi three with 6:40 to go in the half.
 
The Texas Tech lead would again grow to seven points, but SE would again answer by closing the gap, with Taniguchi hitting a jumper with 1:32 to play in the first to close to 34-32.
 
However, TT would answer with the final four points of the half to take a 38-32 lead at the break.
 
The Raiders pushed its lead to eight points out of the break, but a 14-4 run by the Storm that was capped by a Taniguchi three with 15:56 to play put the Storm ahead 46-42.
 
TT would tie the game, but a Smaller three would give SE its biggest lead of the game at 49-46 with 14:28 to play.
 
Tech would regain the lead, but another Smaller jumper at the 12:29 mark would put the Storm in front 53-52.
 
A Pair of free throws would give The Red Raiders the lead and trigger a 6-0 run.
 
Southeastern would cut at the lead and close the gap to 60-59 with another Smaller three pointer with 10:04 to play.
 
TT would answer with another 6-0 which led to the Red Raiders outscoring the Storm 19-8 over the final nine minutes to fashion he final of 79-67.