Late Rally Falls Short in Loss at ATU

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Southeastern had a foursome of double-digit scorers, but were unable to close out a second-half rally in a 74-70 road loss to Arkansas Tech on Thursday night in Russellville, Ark.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 9-3 overall on the year and 3-2 in Great American Conference play heading into a 3 p.m. matchup against Harding on Jan. 4 in Searcy, Ark.
 
"Our M.O. is that they got all over us," said head coach Kelly Green. "They were denying ball reversal in the first half. In the second half they just got up and guarded us for 94 feet and chased us off the ball. The ball inevitably ended up in our bigger guys hands down the floor and we did a poor job getting rid of it. to their credit they got the game going in a helter skelter pace and that's what they needed to do."
 
Kayo Goncalves led the way for the Storm with 15 points while shooting 50.0 percent from the floor, including a trio of threes. He also wrapped up his fourth double-double of the season with a career-high 16 rebounds to pace all players on the boards.
 
Kevin Buckingham and Kellen Manek each added 13 points, while Adam Dworsky followed with 12.
 
Buckingham and Manek each added eight rebounds to go with the 16 put up by Goncalves as the Storm held a 43-to-34 edge on the boards.
 
SE had one of its lowest shooting efforts from beyond the arc, hitting 6-of-23 on the night, while the Wonder Boys connected on 11 threes.
 
Buckingham was 4-of-7 in the first half with nine points to lead the Storm who shot 50.0 percent from the field but hit just three threes on its way to a 39-28 lead.
 
SE scored the first five points of the game on a Goncalves three and a Manek layup on the way to a 19-8 run to open the game, capped by a Buckingham three-point play.
 
The Wonder Boys would close to within six points three times in the waning minutes of the first half, but a 7-0 run would push the Storm advantage back to 13 points before settling on a 39-28 lead at the break.
 
The Storm lead would reach 12 early in the second half before an 8-0 ATU run would close the gap to 44-40 by the 16:37 mark.
 
The Wonder Boys would use a 14-4 run that broke a 53-53 tie, leaving the Storm trailing 67-57 with 7:07 to play.
 
A pair of Goncalves three would power a 13-5 run by Southeastern in response, closing the gap to 72-70 with 11 seconds to play, but ATU's RJ Glasper would connect on two free throws with four seconds to make the final 74-70.