SE Dominant in 24-point Win over SAU

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern pushed its winning streak to five games and moved into a tie for second in the Great American Conference standings with a dominant 78-54 victory over Southern Arkansas on Thursday night in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 17-6 overall and 13-6 in GAC play heading into the final home game of the season as SE celebrates senior day on Saturday afternoon prior to a 3 p.m. matchup with Arkansas-Monticello.
 
"We got off to a great start," Said head coach Kelly Green. "I thought we were really engaged and moving and not letting them get any open looks. Early I thought our help defense was exceptional and we were very quick to the ball. We were going with such great pace to the other end and just got a great start."
 
Southeastern was paced on offense by Kevin Buckingham who turned in his fifth-straight 20-point scoring effort, finishing the night with 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting with three threes.
 
He was joined in double-digits by Kellen Manek who turned in 17 points and Adam Dworsky who was 4-of-5 from three to finish with 16 points.
 
Jett Jobe finished with nine points but dished out a game-high eight assists to trigger the offense which shot 49.2 percent from the floor for the contest.
 
Buckingham just missed a double-double, finishing the game with nine boards to lead all rebounders while Manek chipped in seven.
 
SE was blistering out of the gate after missing a jumper on its opening possession the Storm would hit the next four shots it took to go up 9-0 on its way to a 19-0 run to open the game, holding the Muleriders scoreless for the first 8:48 of the contest.
 
SAU responded with a 10-1 run to chip away at the SE lead, cutting it to 20-10 by the 9:02 mark of the first half.
 
A Jobe jumper would trigger another 9-0 run to go up 29-10 with 5:01 to go in the half, with the Storm lead reaching 21 points inside the final minute before a half court buzzer beater to end the half cut the Southeastern advantage to 36-18 at the break.
 
SE did not sit back on its laurels in the second half as Jobe drained a three to open the half and by the 15:32 mark would stretch the lead to 53-25 on a Manek jumper.
 
The Muleriders trimmed the Storm lead back to 20 points twice over the next five minutes and eventually cut it to 57-38 with 8:57 to play.
 
Southeastern would respond with a 16-3 run capped by a Manek three-point play which gave the Storm its largest lead of the day at 73-41 with 4:37 to play.
 
SE would cruise to a 78-54 victory.