SE Downs Rival Tigers, 83-70

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern pushes its current winning streak to three while snapping a losing skid in its rivalry series thanks to an 83-70 victory over East Central on Thursday night in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The win is the third-straight and the sixth out of the last seven games, lifting the Savage Storm to 15-6 overall and 11-6 in Great American Conference play, moving into a three-way tie for third place with ECU and Oklahoma Baptist.
 
SE will be back in action on Feb. 16 when it heads to Alva, Okla., for a 3 p.m. matchup with Northwestern Oklahoma State.
 
The win also snaps a seven-game losing skid against ECU dating back to a Feb. 26, 2015, win by SE by a score of 88-83.
 
Kevin Buckingham turned in a double-double to lead a foursome of double-digit scorers, putting up 20 points and 10 rebounds.  It is his 11^th 20-plus point outing and third in-a-row, as well as his ninth double-double on the season.
 
Jett Jobe hit a trio of threes and finished next up with 17 points, while DJ Henderson came off the bench to drain 5-of-10 threes and turn in 15 points.
 
Kellen Manek rounded out the rounded out the double-digit scoring with 13 points.
 
Manek and Adam Dworsky each dished out five assists, while Buckingham and Jobe each handed out four.
 
SE shot 52.0 percent in the second half and was 6-of-14 form three to finish the game hitting 49.1 percent form the floor overall and hitting 10 threes total.
 
DJ Henderson came off the bench in the first half and hit 4-of-6 threes to lead the way in the first 20 minutes with 12 points, while Kevin Buckingham was 5-for-7 to post 10 first half points and eight first half rebounds.
 
SE scored on its first possession and opened the game on a 7-2 run before the momentum flipped and the Tigers reeled off a 13-2 run to take a 15-9 lead with 13:32 to go in the half.

A Myles Nesbitt bucket would break the run and after the teams traded buckets over the next five minutes SE would finally close the gap with a Henderson three to tie the game at 23-23 with 7:33 to go in the half.
 
After again trading buckets, SE would regain the lead on a Buckingham layup at the 6:27 mark and again with 5:52 to go in the half at 29-27.
 
ECU would answer with a three to take a brief lead, but back-to-back threes from Henderson would trigger an 8-0 run and a 37-30 lead with 4:14 to go in the first.
 
However, the Tigers would score eight of the final 12 points in the half to cut Southeastern's lead to 41-38 at halftime.
 
ECU would trim the Storm lead to one point four times over the first six minutes of the second half before a Gerren Jackson free throw at the 13:37 mark tied the game at 52-52.
 
The Tiger would take the lead and SE would tie it in response on three-straight possessions before a Jobe three with 10:43 to play put SE back in front before adding another one just over a minute later to go up 64-59.
 
That started an 11-2 run capped by a third Jobe three to give the Storm a 69-61 edge with 6:55 to play.
 
A Manek bucket with 4:29 remaining would stretch the lead to 76-66 and with free throws in the final two minutes the SE lead would grow as high as 15 points before settling on an 83-70 victory.