Sternberger Record Night Powers SE to Win

DURANT, Okla. – Jett Sternberger shot his way into the record books in his first home game in a Southeastern uniform on Wednesday night, dropping a school-record 55 points to lead the Savage Storm to a 128-70 victory over Arlington Baptist in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The win lifts SE to 2-1 on the season before returning to action at the DoubleTree Thanksgiving Classic on Nov. 23-24 versus Drury and Missouri S&T, respectively, in Springfield, Mo.
 
Sternberger ran down one of Southeastern oldest record, passing the previous high mark of 54 points posted by Jerry Shipp during the 1957 season, a 64 year gap between setting and breaking it. He had just passed the GAC record for points in a game a few minutes before, a record that was also held by a Southeastern player, this one being a 48 performance by Anton Cook during the 2017 season.
 
He made his way there on the strength of another school record, this one being the 12 threes he drained on the night, besting the previous high of 10 set by the last Jett to play for the Storm, Jett Jobe, back in 2019.  That number matches the GAC record for threes in a contest which was set by Alex Brown of Arkansas Tech in 2018.
 
Sternberger led a trio of double-digit scorer for the Storm, with Kellen Manek pouring in 22 and Bobby Johnson finishing the night with 11.
 
Manek finished with a double-double and hit 4-of-5 from beyond the arc while pulling down 11 rebounds.
 
Ante Brzovic just missed a double-double as he finished with nine points while pulling down a game-high 13 rebounds.
 
Kyle Leslie added eight points in the effort and Adam Dworksy finished with seven.
 
Dworsky flirted with his own record for assists in a game, but finished two short of that mark by dishing out 14 against ABU, leading SE to 31 as a team for the contest.
 
SE shot well across the board, hitting 58.9 percent from the field overall and 56.1 percent form beyond the arc on 23-of-41, and added a 79.2 percent shooting effort from the free throw line.
 
As a team the Storm finished one point shy of tyng the GAC record for points in a game which was 129, and with their 70 point first half effort was just two points short of the points in a half record in the league.
 
After briefly falling behind 4-3, Southeastern would quickly reel off a 14-2 run capped by a Brzovic free throw which lifted the SE advantage to 17-6 by the 15:54 mark of the opening half.
 
That lead would slowly but steadily grow, hitting the 20-popint mark at 39-19 with 9:41 to play in the half on a Sternberger three.
 
It continued to grow and a Johnson three with 2:05 remaining would balloon the edge to 32 points at 65-33.
 
That lead peaked 25 seconds later at 33 points before settling on a 70-38 lead at the half.
After a back-and-forth start to the second half the storm lead would begin to grow again and would finally crack the 40-popint mark at 94-53 on a Brzovic layup with 12:21 remaining in the second half.
 
That advantage finally topped 50-points when a pair of RJ Weeks free throws at the 4:26 mark pushed the Storm lead to 117-66.
 
After four-straight Patriot points, Southeastern would close the game on an 11-0 run to take the contest 128-70.