SE Downs UTPB in Thanksgiving Opener

KINGSVILLE, Texas – Southeastern opened play in the TAMUK Thanksgiving Classic with a dominant 79-62 win over Texas-Permian Basin on Friday evening in Kingsville, Texas.

The win is the second in-a-row and moves SE to 3-3 overall on the season heading into a Saturday matchup at 7:30 p.m. with host Texas A&M-Kingsville.

The Savage Storm hit 12 threes in the contest and went 21-of-25 at the free throw line to pull ahead and stay ahead.

Anton Cook poured in a game-high 26 points with four threes and a 12-of-16 effort at the free throw line.

Kevin Buckingham followed up with his first double-double by turning in 18 points, including four threes, along with a team-best 11 rebounds.

Nathan Jackson chipped in nine points, Marti Fonolla added eight and Jett Jobe seven.

Jobe also dished out a game-high six assists out of the 15 the Storm compiled as a team.

Buckingham's 11 boards led SE to a 46-to-41 edge on the glass, while Cook added seven and Tyler Lonzie six.

Buckingham, Lonzie and Jose Libanio each added two blocked shots as the Storm swatted 10 as a team.

Southeastern rolled out to an early 15-6 lead, never trailing in the contest, and by the 11:02 mark had crossed the lead into double figures at 23-11.

UTPB would close to six points, but a 16-3 run would end that rally and put the Storm up by 19 before settling on a 42-25 lead at halftime.

The lead would expand to as large as 25 points before a late run would cut the final SE edge to 79-62.