Southeastern Rallies For Win over SNU

DURANT, Okla. – Anton Cook led all players with 20 points and Southeastern rallied from a 13 point second half deficit to pick up a 65-56 victory over Southern Nazarene on Monday night in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The win lifts them to 8-9 overall on the season and 4-7 in Great American Conference play, just one game out of eight-place at the midway point in the conference schedule.
 
Cook finished the night 7-of-13 from the floor and 3-of-6 from beyond the arc on his way to his fourth 20-point game, and second in-a-row.
 
Kevin Buckingham nearly matched him, pouring in 17 points with a 4-of-6 effort from long range.
 
Bobby Johnson added seven off the bench, while Dino Muminovic hit a pair of big threes in the second half and finished with six, matching Tyler Lonzie's point total.
 
The Storm had an efficient shooting night all around, hitting 45.7 percent from the floor, while posting a 10-of-20 effort from beyond the arc and a 13-of-15 performance at the free throw line.
 
Jett Jobe was held scoreless but did dish out a game-high seven assists.
 
Buckingham and Lonzie each pulled down a team-high six boards as SE held a 30-to-28 edge on the glass as a team.
 
The teams traded buckets early, but the Storm would not take its first lead until the 14:43 mark of the first half when Johnson connected on a pair of free throws for a 9-8 advantage.
 
The lead was short lived through as SNU would regain the edge and slowly push its lead to double-figures, leading by as many as 13 points before leaving the Storm in a 40-29 hole at halftime.
 
The Crimson Storm would again make that lead 13 points right out of the gate in the second half, but a Buckingham bucket and a three by Cook brought it back to single digits.
 
However, the deficit would grow back to 12 points and set at 48-38 with 14:42 to play.
 
At that point a Lonzie layup, followed by a Buckingham three would cut the SNU lead in half and trigger a 18-3 run which saw them tie the game at 51-51 on a Cook jumper with 7:08 to play and then stretch out to a 56-51 lead at the 4:53 mark on a Muminovic three.
 
SNU would cut the lead back to just two points with 3:43 to play, but Cook would score the next five points to push the advantage back to 61-54 with 1:52 remaining.
 
SE would ultimately finish the game on a 9-2 run capped by a pair of Cook free throws with 18 seconds left to pull away with the 65-56 win.