Savage Storm Men Drop GAC Opener

MONTICELLO, Ark. – Southeastern was unable to overcome Arkansas-Monticello's shooting edge on Thursday night as the Savage Storm fell 72-61 in its Great American Conference opener in Monticello, Ark.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in league play heading into a 3 p.m. matchup against Southern Arkansas on Saturday.
 
SE shot 37.7 percent from the floor and went 5-of-16 from long range, which was not enough to offset the home team's 44.8 percent overall shooting performance and a 10-of-21 mark from behind the arc.
 
Anton Cook finished with a team-best 17 points with a pair of threes, while Nathan Jackson reached double-digits with 13.
 
Jett Jobe sank a pair of threes as awell and finished with eight points, while Gianpalo Riccio was next in line with six.
 
Jobe handed out a team-high three assists.
 
Tyler Lonzie hauled in a team-best eight rebounds, five of which were on the offensive glass, and added a pair of blocks.
 
Jose Libanio added five rebounds and Riccio four.
 
Jobe added three steals to his three assists as the Storm snagged nine swipes on the night as a team.
 
SE held a 24-11 edge in points off turnovers, but was on the wrong end of every other specialty stat in the contest.
 
The Storm fell behind early but an 8-0 run would spot them a 9-4 lead by the 14:45 mark.
 
UAM rallied to regain the lead but a Jobe three would put SE back in front 12-11, leading to a Storm lead which would hold until the 8:45 mark of the first half.
 
Again SE responded, first with another Jobe three, and after falling behind by a point it was a Lonzie bucket to go up 23-22 with 7:34 to play.
 
That was the last lead they would hold as the home team scored five-straight points and while not pulling away, they would leave Southeastern trailing 35-30 at halftime.
 
A Jackson layup to open the half made it a one possession game, but an 11-0 run as an answer would stake UAM to a 46-32 lead by the 17:51 mark of the second half.
 
SE would chip the deficit down to 10 points at the 6:40 mark on a Jackson free throw at 58-48 and twice more, the last coming on another Jackson freebie with 1:03 to play to close to 70-60.
 
The Weevils would take the contest 72-61.