SE Tripped Up as OBU Pulls Away Late

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern got 23 points from Sami Bzai, but the team struggled from the field and saw Ouachita Baptist pull away late in a 76-64 loss on Thursday night in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The loss dips the Savage Storm to 7-13 overall and 5-9 in Great American Conference play, leaving them tied for ninth, a game out of seventh, heading into a 3 p.m. Saturday matchup with Henderson State who is in 11^th and just a game behind the Storm after a loss at East Central on Thursday.
 
Bzai's 23 points included four threes and a 9-of-12 effort at the free throw line and he led a trio of double-digit scorers.
 
Anton Cook recovered from a scoreless first half to put up 13 points, including a 3-for-5 effort from behind the arc, while Nathan Jackson added 11 points on 3-of-4 shooting and a 5-of-6 mark at the charity stripe.
 
Tyler Lonzie came off the bench to add eight points and just missed a double-double after matching a game-high with 12 rebounds.
 
However, rebounding would prove to be one of the biggest differences in the game as the Storm were outrebounded 43-to-33 and were hit even harder on the offensive glass where the Tigers held a 13-to-4 advantage which turned into a 16-4 scoring edge in second chance points.
 
SE was also hit with 14 turnover which OBU turned into a 14-4 edge.
 
The game was back and forth for the entire first half with the largest lead either team could muster being four point.
 
Jackson would score the final five SE points of the first half, but OBNU would get the last bucket and the teams went to the locker room knotted at 29-29.
 
A Cook layup gave the Storm the lead out of halftime, but a 10-0 run by OBU would answer and open up a 39-31 advantage less than three minutes into the half.
 
The Storm whittled away and would close the gap to 49-48 on a Cook three with 11:31 to go in the game.
 
That was as close as they would get though as the Tigers scored the next eight points.
 
Southeastern would get the score to a six point deficit with 6:04 to play, but were unable to get over the hump as OBU would outscore the Storm 18-10 before a Jackson layup with five seconds to play set the final score at 76-64.