Southeastern Downs OBU in GAC Opener

DURANT, Okla. – All five Southeastern starters reached double-figures with Adam Dworsky and Kayo Goncalves each posting double-doubles to lift Southeastern to a 94-79 win over Oklahoma Baptist in the Great American Conference opener on Thursday night in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The win improves the Savage Storm to 3-0 to start the year and 1-0 in GAC play heading into a Saturday matchup with Southwestern Oklahoma State at 3 p.m. back in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
"It's really big," said head coach Kelly Green talking about the significance of winning the home opener. "You always want to be 1-0 and getting a good start in the league opener is a good way to do that. I thought what we did well was that we bent, but we didn't quite break and we kept putting together little runs here and there. I think OBU showed us some of our weaknesses."
 
"We jumped on them early," he continued, "By holding them to one shot. We did a good job and they only got eight offensive rebounds and they have been really beating people up on the glass."
 
Goncalves finished the contest with 17 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, while Dworsky completed his third-straight double-double with 12 points and 11 assists.
 
Kevin Buckingham led all scorers with 21 points on the contest, thanks to four threes, while A'Torey Everett added 19 points and Kellen Manek finished with 18.
 
Dworsky's 11 assists led all players, while Buckingham added five and Manek dished out three.
 
The offense hummed all night, shooting 53.1 percent in the first half before picking up the pace and hitting 64.0 in the second.
 
The team also finished the game hitting 12-of-22 from three point range.
 
SE held an edge on the glass as well at 33-to-30, led by Goncalves' 12 rebounds followed by five from Everett and Dworsky.
 
The Storm led from tip to final buzzer with Buckingham scoring on the game's opening possession and triggering an 8-0 run to open the game for Southeastern.
 
The lead would quickly bloom to 13 points on a Buckingham three by the 15 minute mark.
 
OBU would whittle the Storm lead down to 25-21 by the 11:04 mark, but a 12-0 run capped by a Manek jumper would extend the lead to 37-21 with 7:54 to go in the first half.
 
The Bison would again put together a rally, closing the gap to just one point before SE settled on a 44-41 halftime lead.
 
OBU would cut the lead to one point to open the second half and would hover within two possession until SE used a 7-0 run capped by a pair of Goncalves free throws to extend a six point lead into ta 72-59 advantage with 8:34 to play.
 
The Bison would close the gap to single digits once more with 7:59 to play, but Southeastern would answer with back-to-back threes form Goncalves and Dworsky to fire up the offense, eventually pulling ahead by as much as 91-70 before finishing the game with a 94-79 victory.