SE Closes 2019 With 96-74 Win

DURANT, Okla. – Kevin Buckingham and Adam Dworsky each posted 20-point outings and Southeastern shot 60.3 percent as a team for the game en route to a 96-74 win over Friends University on Tuesday afternoon in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 9-2 overall on the season heading back into Great American Conference play to open the new year as they travel first to Russellville, Ark., to face Arkansas Tech on Jan. 2 followed by a Jan. 4 matchup with Harding in Searcy, Ark.
 
Buckingham led all scorers with 26 points, hitting 11-of-13 from the floor, with his two misses coming from beyond the arc and adding a 3-for-3 effort at the free throw line.
 
Dworsky turned in a season-high 22 points and dished out a game-high 10 rebounds to complete his fifth double-double of the season. It is his sixth game with double-digit assists totals on the year.
 
A'Torey Everett joined the pair in double figures and finished the contest with 15 while Kayo Goncalves hit 4-of-8 from three-point range to finish with 12.
 
The Storm finished the day hitting 60.3 percent overall for the game and hit five threes in each half and finished shooting 43.5 percent from beyond the arc.
 
Kellen Manek led the team on the boards with eight, while Goncalves added six and Buckingham grabbed five.
 
Buckingham also collected a pair of blocks and Everett snagged two steals on defense.
 
Buckingham's 18 first half point helped stake the Storm to a 51-point half as he led a trio of double-digit first-half scorers.
 
Dworsky added 12 points and six assists in the first 20 minutes while Everett opened the game with 13 points.
 
The Storm finished the half shooting 63.3 percent from the floor and added a 5-of-11 effort from beyond the arc.
 
The teams played to a 19-19 tie by the midway point of the half before the SE offense got moving with a 16-3 run capped by a Buckingham three-point play to take a 35-22 lead.
 
That advantage would grow to as many as 17 points with 2:51 to play in the half before settling on a 51-38 lead at the break.
 
The Falcons would chip away to open the second half, closing the gap to 12 points two minutes into the half, but back-to-back Goncalves threes would have the lead back at 18 points by the 16:22 mark.
 
The lead would grow to 21 on a Manek bucket with 13:40 to go, but a Friends 13-3 run would cut the score to 72-61 with 9:25 on the clock.
 
However, that was as close as they would get as a Dworsky three-point play would start a 7-2 run and by the 2:33 mark the Storm lead would reach 20 points on a Goncalves three to make the score 89-69.
 
SE would stretch the lead out to 24 points in the final seconds on a Ziga Zatezic three before settling on a 96-74 final score.