Savage Storm Fall In GAC Title Game

BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – A game-tying three point try by Kevin Buckingham was just off the mark with 1.2 seconds to play and Southeastern saw its 10-game winning streak come to an end with an 80-77 loss to No. 17 Southern Nazarene in the Championship Game of the Great American Conference Tournament on Sunday afternoon in Bartlesville, Okla.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 22-7 overall on the season and will now await their postseason fate until the announcement of the NCAA Regional Tournament bids which will be announced on Sunday night at 9:30 p.m.
 
Kevin Buckingham and Adam Dworsky each earned their second-straight All-GAC Tournament team and were joined by Kellen Manek.
 
Buckngham finished with a game-high 27 points and turned in his third-straight double-double of the postseason with 11 rebounds. His 27 points is the most put up by an SE player in the GAC Tournament.
 
He was joined in double-figures by Jett Jobe who had 14, while Manek chipped in 13 and Dworsky finished with 10.
 
The Storm finished the day shooting 50.0 percent from the floor and hit 10 threes, but the pace slowed in the second half where SE was 43.3 percent and was 4-of-14 from beyond the arc.
 
Dworsky handed out six assists and Jobe dished out four while SE finished with 18 as a team.
 
Buckingham's 11 boards matched the game high, but the Storm was outrebounded 36-to-27 on the day which SNU turned into a 13-5 edge in second chance points.
 
Dworsky, Buckingham, and Jobe combined for 28 points in the first half, with Dworsky putting up 10, while Manek and Buckingham added nine apiece.
 
As a team, SE hit 6-of-12 from beyond the arc and shot 57.0 percent for the first half overall.
 
The Storm bounced back from a slow start, falling behind 7-1 in the first two-and-a-half minutes, but a Jobe layup and a Ziga Zatezic three would quickly close the deficit and by the 15:03 mark a Zatizic layup would give SE its first lead at 12-11.
 
The teams followed by trading blows, with 11 lead changes and three ties before a Dworsky three followed by a Buckingham jumper gave the Storm a 30-26 lead with 9:02 to play in the first half.
 
Southeastern extended its lead to as many as six points on a Jobe three with 3:11 to play in the half, but SNU would score the final seven points of the half and lead 44-43 at the half.
 
The back-and-forth continued into the second half as a Buckingham three would give the Storm a brief lead out of the gate and it would follow that form with Buckingham and Manek answering with buckets to leave SE up 50-48 with 17:37.
 
SNU would answer with back-to-back buckets to take the lead and would take a 57-54 lead with 13:39 to play, but SE would respond with a Jobe three and a Buckingham layup would give the Storm a 59-57 edge with 11:33 to play.
 
The Crimson Storm would score seven of the next nine points to take a lead and would go up by as many as four before SE chipped away and tied the game at 75-75 on a Buckingham three with 2:05 to play.
 
SNU would answer with five-straight points to go up 80-75 with 59 seconds to play, and a Jobe layup would close the gap to 80-77 which would be the final.