SE Bench Helps Lift Storm past HSU

DURANT, Okla. – Sami Bzai turned in a game-high 17 points, while Anton Cook and Antonio Worthy combined for 28 off the bench to lift Southeastern to a 65-61 win over Henderson State on Saturday afternoon in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The win moves the Savage Storm back to 11-11 on the season and 7-7 in Great American Conference play, putting SE in sixth-place on its own, a half-game behind Southern Nazarene and a game ahead of Arkansas Tech.
 
Bzai turned in his 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field, including a 4-of-6 effort from three point range.
 
Cook followed right behind with 15 on 5-of-6 shooting, including a 2-for-2 mark from long range, while Worthy matched his season-high with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
 
Cook and Taylor Smaller each dished out a team-best three assists.
 
Southeastern shot 56.1 percent from the field for the contest, hitting 23-of-41 shots that included a 7-of-14 mark from three point range.
 
The Storm also won the battle on the glass with a 36-to-32 edge in rebounds thanks to a 14 rebound outing by Darius Harris, his fourth-straight double-digit rebound game.
 
Worthy just missed a double-double with nine boards.
 
HSU took a very early five point lead, but SE would answer and the teams would claw through the first half with neither team taking more than a four-point lead until a Cook three and a Bzai layup with less than a minute to play would give the Storm a 33-28 lead at the half.
 
Thanks to three by Smaller and Bzai early in the second half SE would open up a 39-30 lead, which would eventually stretch to a 10-point advantage at 43-33 on a pair of Danny Powell free throws with 16:14 to play.
 
HSU would answer with a run that whittled the SE edge to 45-43 before the midway point of the second half, but the Storm would again answer with a Bzaui three and a 3-for-3 trip to the free throw line by Cook to push the edge back to 10 points.
 
Southeastern would still hold a double-digit advantage at the 2:53 mark, but HSU would make one last push, closing to four points on a three with 26 second to play, but a pair of free throws would keep it out of reach with the Reddies tacking on a layup with two ticks left on the clock to fashion he 65-61 final score.