Storm Men Pull Away Late for Big Win Over SWOSU

DURANT, Okla. – Four Southeastern starters scored in double-figures, led by a career-high 21 points from Vadim Clanet, as Southeastern got back in the win column with an 85-65 victory over league-leading Southwestern Oklahoma State on Thursday night in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 2-3 overall and in Great American conference Western Division play heading into a Saturday afternoon matchup with Oklahoma Baptist at 4 p.m. back in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
"A Good day to get a dub," said sophomore forward Markeith Williams. "Me and Adam are always trying to work on team chemistry. I'm always talking to him and always trying to get the right plays and get the right moves. We've got some momentum and of course we've got to play hard. That's the main thing coach has been saying. Last year we had Kevin and Kellen and they have that laser focus and we just need to get back to what we had."
 
"I thought we got whipped the first half," Said head coach Kelly Green. "We've been talking about playing more physical. We've been talking about playing tougher, but they took the ball from us some in the first half and I was disappointed we didn't respond in the first half initially."
 
"Challenged the guys a little bit more." He continued. "They challenged themselves at halftime and made a couple of adjustments. We played a little zone at the end of the first half and decided to stick with it a little bit in the second half. We haven't been doing it much but I thought that helped us."
 
"Markeith Williams had a really good game, Green added. "He manned the inside for us. I think he took two charges he was big with his body inside and made it difficult to shoot over him. He got nine defensive rebounds. Really proud of the job that he did. It's a team effort. We don't have much room for error so we need everybody."
 
Clanet's game-high 21 came on a 6-of-14 shooting effort with five threes.
 
Adam Dworsky was next in line with 17 points and once again flirted with a triple-double by adding eight assists and seven rebounds to his night's work.
 
Bobby Johnson finished with 15 on the night and RJ Weeks turned in 13 to round out the Storm double-digit scoring.
 
Dwosky finished with eight of the team's 16 assists, while Weeks handed out four.
 
Williams nearly completed a double-double on the night, hauling in a game-high 10 rebounds and finishing with nine points.
 
The Storm also turned in their best performance at the free throw line thus far this season, shooting 76.5 percent as a team, hitting 13-of-17.
 
SE also limited its turnovers, committing just eight, while taking advantage of SWOSU's miscues to the tune of a 21-10 edge in points off turnovers.
 
The teams traded one-possession leads throughout the first 11 minutes of the game before a 5-0 run by the Bulldogs put the visitors in front 22-18 with 8:36 to go in the half.
 
The SWOSU lead would reach as many as six points with 4:10 to go in the first half before a late push capped by a pair of Clanet free throws gave the Storm a 37-36 lead with 1:03 to play.
 
The Bulldogs would score the final four points of the half and take a 40-37 lead to the locker room.
 
SE would quickly tie the game and from the 17:51 mark till the 13:29 mark would outscore the Bulldogs 17-7 to open up a double0dgiti lead with 13:29 to play.
 
Southwestern would twice whittle that lead back down to two points, the last time coming with 7:55 to play with a Johnson three answering the run and stretching the lead to five.
 
Two possessions later with the lead still at five points, Southeastern would finish the game on a 15-0 run over the final 5:35 to close out an 85-65 victory.