Southeastern Tripped Up by Bulldogs

DURANT, Okla. – Despite putting all five starters in double-figures and shooting 50 percent from the field and from three-point range, Southeastern was unable to run down Southwestern Oklahoma State in the final minute, falling 89-82 on Wednesday night in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 5-11 on the season overall and 3-7 in Great American Conference play which drops them out of the three-way tie for eighth momentarily with the remainder of the teams playing Thursday before SE gets back on the court on Saturday at 3 p.m. to face Southern Nazarene as they look to jump back into contention for the GAC postseason tournament.
 
Sami Bzai turned in his biggest outing since November as he finished with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting overall and 5-of-9 form three-point range.
 
Anton Cook was right on his heels with 18 after hitting 7-of-15 and going 4-of-8 from long range.
 
Nathan Jackson chipped in 12 points, while Tyler Lonzie and Quinton Threadgill each added 11.
 
The Storm hit 14-of-28 form behind the arc, but was not able to offset the 17-for-30 effort SWOSU put up from long range ad both teams shot better than 50 percent from the floor and from three point range.
 
Cook dished out a team-high seven assists, while Lonzie and Threadgill added three each and the Storm turned in 21 on the night.
 
Lonzie pulled down a team-best nine boards, with Bzai next at six while the Storm lost the rebounding matchup 35-to-31.
 
SE took an early lead before the Bulldogs answered and held the lead themselves for a bit before back-to-back threes by Threadgill and DJ Henderson would put the Storm in front by six points and after a three and a layup from threadgill on consecutive possessions the SE lead ballooned to 32-21 with 8:21 to go in the first half.
 
SWOSU would get as close as five down the stretch of the half before SE settled on a 47-41 lead at the break.
 
The Bulldogs opened the second half on an 11-0 run and would take the lead for good.
 
The Storm would close the gap to a one possession contest three times despite being down by as many as 13 in the half, the last coming on a Cook three with 3:02 to play which closed the deficit to 80-78.
 
SWOSU would score on back-to-back possessions to thwart SE's threat and would hit five of six free throws in the final 32 seconds to hand Southeastern an 89-82 loss.