Storm Hold on For Win Over Bison

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern snapped a seven-game losing streak by holding off a late Oklahoma Baptist rally for a 76-69 win on Thursday night in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 5-8 overall and 3-4 in Great American Conference play, breaking the four way tie and giving SE sole possession of the eighth place spot in the standing with just a game separating eighth and fourth places.
 
Anton Cook turned in his fifth 20-point scoring performance to lead the Storm with 23 points on the night doing the bulk of his damage at the free throw line where her was 14-of-15.
 
Sami Bzai and Nathan Jackson each added 10 points, while the trio of Tyler Lonzie, Marti Fonolla and Antonio Worthy had eight apiece.
 
SE shot 43.1 percent on the night, staying consistent over both halves, while stepping up its long range effort in the second half with a 4-for-9 effort after shooting 25.0 percent in the first half.
 
Bzai also dished out a game-high six assists and Cook added four as did DJ Henderson as the Storm handed out 19 assists as a team on the night.
 
Southeastern also owned a huge advantage on the glass at 45-to-33, led by nine from Jackson and five or more rebounds from five other players.
 
Worthy also made his presence felt on defense where he blocked four shots.
 
Everything clicked in the first half for the Storm who after scoring the game's first points trailed for just 35 seconds before a Kyle Roberts layup regained the lead.
 
The lead would be 15-13 when Fonolla hit a three that opened up a 21-5 run that was capped by a Worthy jumper with 3:49 to go in the half to open up a 36-18 lead.
 
SE would eventually take a 40-22 lead into the locker room thanks to a Jackson layup off a Henderson pass with five seconds to go in the first half.
 
The lead would grow as large as 25 points on a Jackson bucket that made the score 50-25 with 15:37 to play.
 
However, OBU would answer and slowly chip away at SE's lead, cutting it to single digits with 26 second to go at 71-62.
 
A pair of free throws and a three helped them take advantage of Storm miscues and SE led 72-67 with 15 seconds to go.
 
The Bison would get as close as four points with two seconds to play, but would get hit with a technical foul for calling a timeout they did not have, giving SE a free throw and the ball.
 
Cook would drain the technical free throw and then add two more with one second to play to push the final score to 76-69.