Buckingham Drops 25 in Exhibition Loss at OU

NORMAN, Okla. – Kevin Buckingham scored a game-high 25 points and Southeastern shot 51.7 percent in the second half to stay within striking distance, but was unable to upset Division I Oklahoma in an 89-76 exhibition loss on Tuesday night in Norman, Okla.
 
The Savage Storm will kick off the season in earnest on Nov. 8 when it travels to Bethany, Okla., for the GAC/NSIC Challenge, with a rematch of its first-round matchup in the NCAA Central Regional a season ago against Northern State.
 
"I thought we got off to a decent start," said head coach Kelly Green. "We ran a little play and we got a layup and missed it right at the beginning so you always want to see that first ball fall through. It relaxes everybody so to speak."
 
"I though for the most part," he continued, "We did a good job moving the ball. In the first half we only had three turnovers which was good. In the second half we had 10 and it seemed like every one of their turnovers led to a layup, led to a dunk, or something like that. I thought we did a poor job there and they got out in transition and scored baskets at the rim and we did not. Every one of our baskets were out of a half court set."
 
Buckingham finished the game with 25 points on the contest on 9-of20 shooting from the floor with a pair of threes.
 
A'Torey Everett joined him in double-figures with 17 on 7-of-12 shooting with three threes.
 
Kellen Manek and Kayo Goncalves rounded out the double-digit scoring with 12 each, with Goncalves draining a team-high four threes.
 
The Storm hit 12 threes for the contest, shooting 33.3 percent from long range for the game.
 
Goncalves just missed the double-double with nine rebounds to lead SE on the boards, while Manek hauled in eight and Buckingham grabbed seven.
 
SE held its own on the board with 42 rebounds as a team, just three off the 45 pulled down by OU.
 
Adam Dworsky dished out a game-high six assists as the Storm out-assisted the Sooners 13-to-11 as a team.
 
Everett turned in 10 first half points on 4-of-6 shooting with a pair of threes to lead the Storm in the first half.
 
OU scored the first two buckets before Buckingham put SE on the board with a three at the 18:06 mark.
 
The Sooners would extend their lead out to 15-8 by the 14:51 mark of the first half before the Storm put together a 7-0 run capped by a Goncalves Fastbreak bucket that tied the game at 15-15 with 12:36 to play in the first.
 
Oklahoma would jump ahead again briefly until SE answered with a three-point play by Buckingham and a Manek three to give the Storm a 21-19 lead at the 10:46 mark.
 
OU would tie the game but another Manek three would put Southeastern back in front and was followed by a Buckingham layup to put the Storm ahead 26-21 with 9:24 to go in the half.
 
The Sooners would score the next nine points to regain the lead, but an Everett three at the 3:42 mark would tie the game at 32-32.
 
OU would use an 11-5 run to finish the half to leave the Storm trailing 43-37 at halftime.
 
SE would cut the deficit to two points early in the second half on buckets from Everett and Manek, making the score 43-41 less than a minute into the half.
 
The Sooners answered with a 14-2 run to put the Storm behind 57-43 at the 15:40 mark of the second half.
 
Southeastern would respond and nudge the game back to single digits multiple times before a Buckingham layup and an Everett three would cut the gap down to 69-64 with 7:44 to go.
 
Unfortunately, that was as close as the Storm would get as OU would push the lead back to double figures by the 6:17 mark, eventually settling on the 89-76 final score.