Savage Storm Downs Muleriders, 87-78

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern picked up its second-straight win and opens 2-0 in Great American Conference play for the first time since the 2013-14 season after an 87-78 win over Southern Arkansas on Saturday afternoon in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The Savage Storm moves to 3-1 overall on the season and 2-0 in league play heading into a Nov. 23 out of conference contest against Dallas Christian at 7:30 p.m. in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
Sami Bzai and Anton Cook each crossed the 20-point plateau in the game and Nathan Jackson turned in his first double-double of the year.
 
Bzai finished with 25 points, turning in his third-straight game with 20-or-more points, due in large part to a 12-of-13 performance at the free throw line while adding a 6-of-10 performance form the floor.
 
Cook was 6-of-12 from the floor and did his damage from long range where he was 5-of-7 from behind the three point line to finish with 20 points.
 
Jackson turned in 14 in the effort and led the team with 11 rebounds.
 
Stelios Papafloratos and Quinton Threadgill each added eight points with a pair of three point makes.
 
The Storm shot 50.0 percent from the floor as a team going 27-of-54 and hit 47.8 percent from the floor on 11-of-23 from behind the arc.
 
Bzai also led the all players with six assist, while Threadgill added four and Cook chipped in three as the team combined for 17 on the night.
 
SE held a slight-41-to-40 edge on the glass where Jackson's 11 boards led all rebounders.
 
Bzai added eight boards to his triple-double threatening totals, while Jose Libiano pitched in six and Antonio Worthy posted five along with a pair of blocked shots.
 
The teams were even out of the gate, but SAU would grab the early lead and the Storm were unable to pass them until the 10:44 mark when Threadgill drained his second three in-a-row to put the Storm up 20-17.
 
SE would expand that lead to as many as 11 points, twice on back-to-back Cook threes on consecutive possessions with 4:48 to go in the first half.
 
The Muleriders reeled off an 11-0 run in response to knot the game at 37-37 with 1:35 to go, but a Bzai jumper with 1:21 remaining would be the final bucket of the half and leave the Storm up 39-37 at the break.
 
Southeastern maintained a lead until the 14:48 mark when a Tony Aska dunk would put the visitors up 54-52.
 
The teams traded buckets and SAU led 58-56 with 12:17 to play, but Jackson would hit a three with 11:30 to play that put SE back in front where it would stay.
 
That three kicked off a 10-0 run to open up a 66-58 lead after a pair of Bzai free throws with 8:30 to play.
 
The lead would shrink to one possession at the 7:28 mark, but from then on SE would hold a 21-15 edge in scoring to hold on for an 87-78 win.