SE Rally Falls Short in Loss at SAU

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern mounted a second-half rally, but were unable to close it out in a 73-64 loss at Southern Arkansas on Saturday afternoon in Magnolia, Ark.
 
SE drops its second-straight game for the first time this season, slipping to 9-4 overall on the season and 5-4 in Great American Conference play heading into a rivalry matchup on Jan. 17 against East Central at 7:30 p.m. Ada, Okla.
 
"When you don't play consistently at a fast pace," said head coach Kelly Green, "And then this is a fast-paced game. What happens to your shot? Our pace was better and our ball movement was better, but we've been playing at too slow of a speed and didn't shoot the ball well."
 
The Savage Storm were 7-of-32 from beyond the arch, hitting 21.9 percent, and overall from the floor connected on 38.8 percent of its shots.
 
Jett Jobe was a bright spot on the SE offense, hitting 6-of-9 from the floor and 3-of-6 from three-point range to put up a game-high 15 points, while Kevin Buckingham added 14 points on 7-of-17 shooting.
 
Buckingham finished with a double-double, his fifth of the season, hauling in a game-high 15 rebounds and helping SE to a 35-to-31 edge on the glass.
 
Jobe also dished out a team-high five assists, while Adam Dworsky finished with four.
 
SAU scored the game's first seven points and the Storm struggled early as the Muleriders pushed their lead to 10 points at 17-7 by the 11:42 mark.
 
That deficit would grow to as many at 16 points with 3:48 to go in the first half before a 9-2 run over the final three minutes by the Storm, capped by a Ziga Zatezic three that made the halftime score 37-28.
 
A Buckingham bucket and a Jobe three would cut the deficit to 37-33 with 17:16 to play.
 
Southeastern continued to hover close, with a Jobe layup at the 9:10 mark closing the gap to 50-48.
 
He would repeat the feat with 5:48 to go, once again closing to within two points at 54-52, but that was as close as the Storm would get as SAU hit free throws down the stretch to hand SE a 73-64 loss.