Savage Storm Men Fall at ORU, 82-75

TULSA, Okla. – For the second-straight exhibition contest Southeastern pushed its Division I opponent to the edge, but saw its upset bid fall just short, this time dropping an 82-75 decision at Oral Roberts on Wednesday night in Tulsa, Okla.

The Savage Storm will close out its exhibition schedule on Nov. 5 when it faces Texas State at 4:30 p.m. in San Marcos, Texas.

SE had a pair of 20 point scorers, led by 23 points from Anton Cook, while Tyler Lonzie added 20.

Cook hit 8-of-15 overall with a pair of threes, while Lonzie was 10-of-16 from the floor.

Nathan Jackson joined them in double-figures with 14 on a 6-of-8 effort form the floor, while Jett Jobe added seven.

The Storm shot 50.0 percent from the floor for the game overall thanks to a 54.55 percent effort in the second half.

Marti Fonolla dished out a team-best six assists, while Jobe added five.

Lonzie led the way on the boards with seven, while Nathan Jackson was right behind with six with three others logging three or more boards each.

Lonzie and Jackson each blocked a pair of shots while seven players each snagged a steal and the Storm held a 7-to-5 edge in steals.

That helped SE own a 20-14 edge in points off turnovers and a 12-11 advantage in second chance points off eight offensive boards.

The Storm entered halftime down by 15 points and outscored ORU 44-36 in the second half.

Southeastern trailed 65-48 with 10:26 to play before mounting a 23-7 run that was capped by a Jackson three which narrowed the gap to 72-71 with 3:42 to play.

However, the Golden Eagles would answer with a 10-0 run to go up 82-71 with 1:24 left on the clock, with buckets from Jackson and Lonzie closing the gap in the final minute to fashion the 82-75 final score.

The teams traded buckets right out of the gate in the contest and SE held a brief 4-3 lead early, but a 9-0 ORU run would leave the Storm in a 12-4 hole early.

A Fonolla jumper at the 11:06 mark would tie the game at 18-18, and 30 seconds later Lonzie would lay it in for a 20-18 lead.

The Storm would lead again at 22-20 before the Eagles regained the advantage.

It would remain a two possession game until the 3:24 mark when ORU jumped out to a 36-29 lead, which was followed by a 10-2 run for the home team which left SE trailing 46-31 at halftime.