SE Downs Rival Tigers, 81-64

ADA, Okla. – Kellen Manek turned in a career-high 29 points to lead a foursome of double-digit scorers as Southeastern picked up an 81-64 road victory over rival East Central on Thursday night in Ada, Okla.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 18-6 overall and 12-5 in Great American Conference play heading into a 3 p.m. matchup with Northwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
Manek turned in a new career-high for the second-straight outing and passes the 20-point plateau in the second-straight game and the fourth of his last five. He finished the night with five threes and shot 9-of-17 overall form the field.
 
Kevin Buckingham was next in line with 18 points on 9-of-13 shooting, with his only four misses coming from outside the arc.
 
Kayo Goncalves was right behind with 14 points and completed the double-double by matching his career-high in rebounds with 16.
 
Al Ervin came off the bench with 10 points to round out the double-digit scoring.
 
Adam Dworsky was held to seven points but triggered the offense to the tune of 12 assists and will head into Saturday's matchup needing four dimes to become Southeastern's career leader in assists.
 
SE hit seven first-half threes, with Goncalves connecting on three of them en route to his team-best 11 first-half points while Manek turned in 10 over the first 20 minutes.
 
ECU jumped out to a 6-0 lead to open the game and led 12-5 at the 13:06 mark of the half before a Goncalves three kick started a 12-0 run that was also capped by a Goncalves three to take a 17-12 lead.
 
The Tigers would trim the Storm lead to three points on a pair of occasions before an 8-0 run would give Southeastern a 30-19 advantage with 4:40 to play.
 
ECU would outscore SE 10-6 over the final four minutes and the Storm lead would sit at 36-29 at halftime.
 
The Tigers would close the deficit to six points twice early in the second half, the last time coming at 44-38 with 16:06 to play.
 
From that point on the Storm would catch fires as an Ervin layup with 15:31 to go kicked off a 27-6 run that was capped by a Dworsky layup with 8:06 to play and giving SE a 71-44 lead.
 
The lead would peak again at 27 points on a Buckingham bucket with 7:30 to play.
 
ECU would chip away over the final seven minutes but would get no closer than 17 points which would match the final differential as the Storm held on for an 81-64 victory.