DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern was unable to pick up its third-straight win as Southern Arkansas scored 57 second half points to pull ahead and hand the Savage Storm a 80-82 loss on Thursday night in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
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The loss dropped SE to 10-11 overall on the year and 6-7 in Great American Conference play, dropping them to sixth in the league standings heading into an important matchup with Henderson State on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. The Reddies will enter that contest tied for seventh at 6-8 on the year in league play.
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The Storm put five players in double-figures, led by a 21 point night from
Danny Powell who hit five threes and was 6-of-6 at the free throw line.
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Taylor Smaller narrowly missed posting a third-straight 20-point game, finishing with 19.
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Sami Bzai added 12 thanks to three threes, while
Darius Harris and
Anton Cook each chipped in 10.
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Smaller also dished out six assists in the game, while Bzai added five and the team combined for 18 on the night.
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Harris turned in the game's only double-double by adding 10 rebounds, but it was not enough to offset a 41-to-33 rebounding difference in favor of SAU.
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Southeastern shot 40.3 percent from the floor for the contest, posting nearly identical efforts in the first and second halves, while the Muleriders hit 50.8 percent thanks to a 60.7 percent effort in the second half that included a 7-of-13 mark from the three point line.
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SAU scored the game's first seven points, but SE rallied and would eventually lead by as many as eight in the first half on a Bzai three with 3:32 to go in the half before settling on a 36-33 advantage at the break.
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The visitors would tie the game up on their first possession, but SE would hold off a lead change until the 16:44 mark of the second half when the Muleriders would take the lead for good.
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SE would close the gap back to one point at 46-45 with 14:39 to play, but that was as close as they would get with SAU pulling away by as many as 16 points before a late rally closed the final score to 90-82.
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