SE MBB Rewind: The Schedule Heats Up

DURANT, Okla. – In the midst of a three-game winning streak with a 12-3 record overall on the season, Southeastern was set to square off with arch-rival East Central as the Great American Conference schedule reaches its midway point. 

As good as the Savage Storm had been to that point, the Tigers had matched them game-for-game in record, entering the matchup with a 12-2 record on the season and the teams were tied in the league standings. 

“Sometimes in the past,” said head coach Kelly Green, “We as coaches put too much emphasis on guarding particular players on their team and it took the focus off what we do collectively as a team. We tried to concentrate more on us and less on them this time.  We believed we had some areas where they were going to have a difficult time defending us and tried to exploit those.”

The approach worked as the team put together a 79-57 victory and Kevin Buckingham became the Great American Conference career leader in rebounds. 

However, it was Adam Dworsky who grabbed the attention as his 25-point performance lifted Southeastern to the win as he connected on his first six shots, two of them from beyond the arch, and barely slowed off that pace as he finished with a game and season-high 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting overall and a 4-olf-7 effort from long range. And to avoid being called selfish he continued to distribute the ball as well, handing out seven assists while tacking on four rebounds and snagging a career-high five steals. 

Buckingham needed just six rebounds to become the conference's all-time leader in career rebounds and he would pass that mark in the first half where he picked up seven boards on his way to a 10-rebound effort. He passes Southern Nazarene's Noah Starkey who became the leader last season. 

“Anytime you can get a win against a conference opponent it is big,” said Green. “When that win comes against one of your biggest rivals who is also running neck and neck with you in the standings it makes it that much more gratifying.  It is no secret that ECU has had the upper hand with us the last few years, so it was good to break through against them.” 
 

SE would follow the big win by taking to the road two days later for a matchup at Southwestern Oklahoma State where Kellen Manek dropped a season-high 22 points as all five Southeastern scorers reached double-figures and the Savage Storm held off a late rally to pick up a 76-75 victory. 
 
"The fact that we won by one," said Green immediately following the game, "And they made 16 threes. And we had to play with different lineups throughout and we got really whopper-jawed. I don't know if that's a word or not. I've used discombobulated before, but we were discombobulated on the offensive and the defensive end." 
 
Manek finished the contest with 22 points on 7-of-9 shooting overall, including a 4-of-6 effort from three-point range.

The Storm would remain on the road the next week, starting at Ouachita Baptist where Dworsky drained a game-tying three with 0.5 seconds to go in regulation to force overtime where then-No. 19 Southeastern outscored OBU 13-6 to pick up a 90-83 win in Arkadelphia, Ark. 
 
Buckingham returned to form on Thursday with a game-high 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting, while Kayo Goncalves connected on 7-of-12 three pointers to finish the night with 22 points. 
 
Dworsky turned in 19 points on the night, hitting 3-of-6 from three-point range, while Manek put up 17 in the effort. 

“Experience of having won close games,” said Green when asked about what makes this team different in tight games, “And having a few more shot makers on the offensive end and we were not a real good individual defensive team but collectively we were solid and could rebound the ball.  We were very fortunate in the Ouachita game to come out with a win.  It took good fortune on a bank shot by Adam with no time on the clock just to get to OT.  We then had some momentum and were able to hold on.”

Unfortunately, the six-game winning streak would come to an end two days later, despite Buckingham dropping 33 points, 20 of them in the first half, in a 67-63 loss at Henderson State in Arkadelphia, Ark. 
 
Buckingham posted his second-highest scoring effort of the season, shooting 12-of-20 from the floor overall and hitting 5-of-8 from three-point range. He would wrap the double-double with 11 rebounds, posting his second double-double of the season. 
 
Dworsky shot 50.0 percent from the floor and finished the game with 17 points but was held to his second-lowest assist total of the season with four. 

“After getting a big break vs Ouachita two days earlier,” said Green, “We were able to lead for all but the final few seconds of the game vs HSU.  Kevin had an outstanding game and Adam was very good as well but we had a hard time getting others involved.   HSU was one of the most talented teams in the GAC and very deep.  They posed a problem for us inside and with their quickness at the guard spots in taking the ball to the basket.  Also, defensively they did not allow us to run our offense so that put a lot of added pressure on Adam to get us into a flow.  We struggled doing that each time we played.  An interesting stat is, we played them 3 times and the team who led the majority of each game lost in the last few seconds.”

Southeastern would return home the following week and respond well. 

First the team welcomed Harding to town where the Storm knocked down 16 threes, shooting 59.3 percent from long range and got 32 points from Buckingham on its way to a 108-70 victory over HU. 
 
Buckingham turned in his second-straight 30-point game, posted 32 on the night in 32 minutes played, while shooting 10-of-14 overall, 4-of-4 from three-point range and 8-of-8 at the free throw line. 
 
Manek followed with 20 points, his second 20-point outing in the last four games, while knocking down four threes. Dworsky turned in his league-leading seventh double-double of the season, putting up 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting while dishing out a game-high 10 assists.

Two days later the offense kept cruising as Dworsky put himself in a pair of record books while helping Southeastern to a 100-68 victory over Arkansas Tech. 
 
Dworsky finished the game with eight assists, and with his sixth of the day he was able to pass Steve Harrell to set SE's record for assists in a single season, and later in the game with his eighth assist he passed Southern Nazarene's Micah Speight who turned in 180 assists during the 2018-19 season mark to take on the GAC's top spot for assists in a single-season. 
 
Manek turned in a game-high 25 points on 7-of-12 shooting with a pair of threes to lead a group of five double digit scorers. 
 
A'Torey Everett was next in line with 17 on 6-of-11 shooting with two threes, while Buckingham finished with 16 on the contest and in doing so became just the fifth player at SE and the second player in the GAC to surpass 1,800 career points.

The team reached 100 points in consecutive games and at that point had scored triple-digits in three games. By that point in the season the Storm had surpassed 90 points eight times. 

“Don’t know if it is “when it needs to,” said Green when asked about the team’s ability to score big, “But we believe when we move the ball we are pretty difficult to defend.  Most of that starts with us getting defensive stops, especially when we can hold a team to one shot and we can get out in transition with a spread floor.  It allows Adam more room to work as well as Kevin inside.  This also creates open looks for our perimeter players.”

However, a road trip to Shawnee, Okla., would put a speed bump in the road for the Storm as Everett’s 16 second-half points Buckingham’s double-double were neither enough to lift Southeastern past its worst three-point shooting effort of the season in a 64-63 loss to Oklahoma Baptist. 
 
Everett's 16 points led the Storm offense, while Buckingham finished with 15 and Manek put up 11

Those woes carried over to the Saturday matchup two days later as SE had a pair of game-tying looks over the final 22 seconds but both were off the mark in a 77-74 loss to Southern Nazarene. 
 
Manek finished with a career-high 28 points to lead SE while shooting 11-of-15 from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point range. Dworsky was next in line with 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting with a trio of threes as well while also dishing out a team-high five assists. 

“As much as anything the opponents were better,” said Green about the losses. “We had a hard time defending both teams and consequently we couldn’t get out in transition.  Anytime you lose a game you wonder if you will ever win again and that’s where we were as coaches.  Realistically, we understood that we got beat in two close games, one on the road against one of the hottest teams in the GAC and had the lead under :30 and the other at home against the GAC leader in a similar situation.  So, you try not to overreact.”

Heading into the final three weeks of the regular season the Storm held a 17-6 record overall and an 11-5 mark in league play as a return trip to face East Central looms on the horizon. 

Check back next week for the final installment of the SE MBB Rewind.