Late Bucket Sinks Storm in Home Finale

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern's hopes for a berth in the Great American Conference Tournament took a hit on Saturday as the Savage Storm was tripped up on Senior Day 56-55 by Southern Nazarene in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 10-16 overall and 8-12 in league play with two games remaining, leaving them in ninth place, one game behind Northwestern Oklahoma State in eighth.  SE would need to win its last two games and get some help in the form of NWOSU losing its final two contests to reach the postseason.
 
It was Senior Day for a trio of Storm players as Sami Bzai, Quinton Threadgill and Antonio Worthy played in their final home contest.
 
Threadgill and Nathan Jackson led the way on offense in a game where the Storm spread its offense around as the pair each posted 10 points.
 
Tyler Lonzie added nine off the bench, with Bzai putting up eight and Worthy adding six.
 
Threadgill also added four assists to lead the team, while Jackson and Marti Fonolla chipped in three each.
 
Threadgill, Jackson and Worthy each posted a team-high six rebounds, with Fonolla right behind with five as the Storm held a 32-to-31 edge on the glass.
 
Southeastern held the lead for much of the second half and after briefly trailing 49-48, it would get a three-point play from Lonzie to jump back in front 52-49 with 2:50 to play.
 
Another Lonzie bucket with 2:21 on the clock would stretch that lead to four points, but SNU would slowly chip away at that as SE would go nearly two minutes scoreless which allowed the Crimson Storm to take a 54-53 lead with 22 seconds to play.
 
SE would answer with nine seconds to play on a Lonzie jumper in the paint off a Threadgill feed, but SNU would get a layup with four seconds left, taking the lead by one and drawing a foul.
 
CJ Rodriguez would miss his free throw, but the Storm were unable to get off a shot before the final buzzer.
 
Both teams were slow on offense early, trading buckets with SE taking a 7-4 lead at the 14:33 mark of the first half.
 
The Crimson Storm answered with a 9-0 run, but that was directly answered by an 8-0 SE run to knot the game at 15-15 with 6:11 to go in the half.
 
SNU would score the next six points, but a pair of Jackson free throws and a Bzai three with 25 seconds to go would cut the halftime deficit to 31-30.