SE Comeback Bid Falls Short at ECU

ADA, Okla. – Southeastern erased a 17-point first half deficit but were unable to complete the come-from-behind win, falling to rival East Central 66-64 on Monday night in Ada, Okla.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 7-8 on the year in Great American Conference Western Division play with a Thursday matchup against Northwestern Oklahoma State next up in Durant, Okla., at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 25.
 
We didn't come out ready to go and they did," said head coach Kelly Green. "And they were playing at a faster speed. They were playing with more urgency. They were the more aggressive team the whole first half. We talked about it at halftime. We're half a step slow the whole first half in everything we were doing. To our guys credit, we got back into it in the end. We had a couple opportunities. Had a couple plays to get the ball in. Kellen had a good game scoring the ball around the basket. We got the ball into him and Kellen got a good look. He got a tough look the other day and he hit it, he got a good look today and he missed it and that happens."
 
Kellen Manek led all scorers on the night with 18 points, this time doing all the work inside without connecting on a three.
 
Vadim Clanet was next in line with 15 in the effort, followed by Adam Dworsky's 12 points and RJ Weeks with 11.
 
Dworsky finished the contest with four assists, while Manek, Weeks, and Bobby Johnson each had two.
 
Manek also led the team on the glass with eight rebounds, while Clanet hauled in six.
 
Southeastern was cold over the first half, hitting just 2-of-10 from beyond the arc while the Tigers on the other hand connected on 50 percent from long range, going 7-of-14.
 
Manek posted seven first-half points to lead the Storm, while Clanet added five.
 
The game was scoreless for nearly two minutes to start before ECU put five points on the board to open up a 14-2 run over the first 5:47 of the first half.
 
SE would get back-to-back buckets but were unable to mount a run as the Tigers would push their lead out to 13 points by the 9:45 mark.
 
The Storm would cut that deficit in half as a Clanet three with 7:12 to go in the half closed the score to 20-13.
 
That was where the ECU lead would hover before pushing the advantage out to as much as 36-19 before the Storm scored the final four points of the half to cut the deficit to 36-23 at halftime.
 
Southeastern made a 180-degree turn to open the second half, reeling off a 7-0 run to cut the deficit down to six points by the 18:17 mark.
 
ECU would recover and nudge its lead back out to 11 points, but the Storm would put together a 15-3 run that was capped by a Weeks dunk with 8:52 to play to take its first lead of the night at 49-48.
 
The teams would trade buckets with two ties and five lead changes over the next three minutes before the Tigers would push their lead out to five points at 61-56 with 4:56 to play.
 
Still down by five with 4:11 to play, Clanet would connect on a three followed by a Dworsky three-point play to put SE in front 64-63 with 2:57 to play.
 
However, both teams would go cold over the final 2:57 as the Storm would be held scoreless while ECU hit 1-of-3 shots and mixed in a turnover, but were able to score three points over that span to swipe the 66-64 final score.