SE Sees Lead Slip Away Late in GAC Opener

BETHANY, Okla. – Despite a trio of double-digit scorers and a nine-point second-half lead, Southeastern was unable to hold off a late Southern Nazarene charge in a 75-66 loss in its Great American Conference opener on Wednesday night in Bethany, Okla.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 2-3 to open the season and 0-1 to start league play heading into the home conference opener on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. versus Southwestern Oklahoma State in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
"We had some opportunities," said head coach Kelly Green. "We go 8-of-12 from the free throw line, and Jett hasn't missed a free throw yet this year, and you know he's not going to go all the way through the year, but you don't expect him to miss back-to-back. He goes 0-of-2 at a crucial point, that's a turnover. Then Brennen misses the front end of a one-and-one and that's a turnover. And we gave up some second shots."
 
"They're good," Green continued, "And we knew that we had to disrupt them, and for a big part of the game I thought we did disrupt them. They want to get down there and run their stuff. They want to be methodical and run their stuff. We don't have the team that can get down there and guard you, so we have to turn the game into a little more of a chaotic situation."
 
"Our guys are battling," he concluded. "They're battling hard and they're going to battle hard. We know we're going to continue to get better. We're going to get better at what we're doing here. I'm proud of the effort we had, but you've got to play through when you get fatigued."
 
Landon Condiff came off the bench with a team-high 22 points on 7-of-11 overall, including a 6-of-8 effort form beyond the arc, hitting his first six three-point tries.
 
He was joined in double-digits by Brennen Burns who finished with 14 points while shooting 50.0 percent, with Jett Sternberger right behind him with 13 on the night.
 
Burns dished out a game-high four assists with Al Ervin and Sternberger each handing out three apiece.
 
Kody Clouet led the way on the boards with a game-high 12 rebounds, with Kyle Leslie hauling in seven in the effort.
 
After treading buckets out of the gate, SNU would edge out in front, taking a 20-12 lead by the 9:30 mark of the first half.
 
SE would respond with a 24-8 run that was capped by a Condiff three in transition, giving the Storm a 36-28 lead with 1:44 to play in the half, but SNU would score the final four points of the first half and Southeastern would hang onto a 36-32 lead at the break.
 
A slow start to the second half saw a pair of SE buckets, the second a Leslie three, extend the Storm lead to 41-32 by the 17:05 mark.
 
After two full scoreless minutes, the teams would trade buckets within 10 seconds of one another to lead the margin at nine points with 14:42 remaining in the game.
 
SNU would take advantage of a nearly four-minute cold spell for the Storm, erasing the nine-point SE advantage and taking a 44-43 lead with 11:28 to play.
 
An RJ Weeks dunk would regain the lead on the next possession, and after another Crimson Storm bucket, a Sternberger second-chance bucket would once again give Southeastern the lead at 47-46 with 10:06 to play.
 
The game would feature three ties and seven lead changes over the next 3:40, with an Ervin three giving SE a 58-56 lead with 6:43 remaining, but a SNU three would answer and give the home team the lead on its next possession.
 
That lead would extend to five points, with the Storm battling back to close the deficit to one-point twice with under four minutes to play, but SNU would hit 7-of-10 free throws over the final two minutes while Southeastern would go 0-for-7 in the final two minutes as the final score settled at 75-66.